Stuart, Fla. – U.S. Congressman Brian Mast (FL-18) today called for increased transparency and security following a CNN report on St. Lucie County election security suggesting that the county’s voter database was infected by malware in 2016. Governor DeSantis has previously stated publicly that Russian-based intrusions occurred in two Florida counties, in addition to others in Illinois and Arizona, during the 2016 election. He has also confirmed no votes were altered and the reporting by CNN today suggested there was no evidence that the malware had been activated.

“Election security is a major concern, so I am requesting a briefing from you on procedures you have implemented to ensure St. Lucie County’s election database is not vulnerable to future attacks,” Rep. Mast wrote in the letter to St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker. “Fortunately, Governor DeSantis has publicly confirmed no votes were altered and the reporting by CNN today suggested there was no evidence that the malware had been activated. Despite these assurances, voters should not need to be in the position they are in now, speculating based on unconfirmed news reports.”

The full letter is below and attached:

To Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker:

I am writing in response to a report published today by CNN that the St. Lucie County election registration system was infected by malware in 2016. Election security is a major concern, so I am requesting a briefing from you on procedures you have implemented to ensure St. Lucie County’s election database is not vulnerable to future attacks.

As you likely know, Governor DeSantis has previously stated publicly that Russian-based intrusions occurred in two Florida counties, in addition to others in Illinois and Arizona, during the 2016 election. At the time, the FBI stated, “The FBI provided information involving the attempted intrusion into Supervisor of Elections networks throughout the state. The FBI also provided assurance that investigators did not detect any adversary activity that impacted vote counts or disrupted electoral processes during the 2016 or 2018 elections.” Fortunately, Governor DeSantis has publicly confirmed no votes were altered and the reporting by CNN today suggested there was no evidence that the malware had been activated.

Despite these assurances, voters should not need to be in the position they are in now, speculating based on unconfirmed news reports. That’s why, after receiving a classified briefing on this subject last year, I urged that the names of the counties be made public and worked with my Florida Congressional colleagues on legislation to require potentially affected voters be notified when federal agencies identify an election system breach. In the wake of this CNN news report, I am renewing that call for increased transparency today.

To that end, while I still cannot discuss information from the classified briefing, Congress has passed hundreds of millions of dollars in increased funding for state-level grants to implement election-security upgrades, so as I mentioned in the beginning of this letter, I am writing to request a briefing from you on procedures you have implemented to ensure St. Lucie County’s election database is not vulnerable to future attacks. I look forward to promptly arranging this meeting.

Sincerely,

Brian Mast
Member of Congress

BACKGROUND

Rep. Mast has been a leading advocate for increasing election security and transparency in Congress. He was the lone Republican to vote in favor of the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act, which mandated voter-verified paper ballots and other election security improvements. The bill also provided more than $1 billion in election security funding. The legislation is still awaiting a vote in the Senate.

Following a classified briefing on Florida election security, Rep. Mast also helped introduce a bill on June 27, 2019, the ALERTS Act, with Rep. Stephanie Murphy (FL-7) and Rep. Waltz (FL-6), to require the Department of Homeland Security to notify Members of Congress, state and local election officials, and potentially impacted voters of an unauthorized intrusion into election systems.

In 2019, Congress approved $425 million for state-level grants to improve election security.

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