Worries about hacking and cybercrime resulted in the federal Department of Homeland Security naming voting machines and elections systems around the country as “critical infrastructure”, and therefore eligible for more federal help to protect them.
Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted said he’s not sure what this designation means – and whether it gives the federal government authority to do something that it didn’t have power to do before. He says wants more information in writing.
“I don’t want to underreact or overreact to something, but until they give us the facts, I think that it’s wise to be skeptical about what this really means,” Husted said.
Husted said he and his colleagues in other states would oppose any federal takeover of state elections. And Husted said he’s not sure why the Obama administration would do this now, since there’s no federal election till 2018. But he notes that President-Elect Trump’s Homeland Security department could overrule it.