WASHINGTON 鈥� Questions have been raised about the security of state election systems ahead of the midterm elections, which are now just three weeks away, but U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, from Maryland, believes the state鈥檚 voters can expect their votes to be properly counted.
鈥淚鈥檓 confident, based on what I鈥檝e been told, in the security of Maryland鈥檚 election infrastructure for this election,鈥� Van Hollen, a Democrat, said this week, when asked about the issue by 海角社区app.
But Van Hollen still worries about an FBI finding earlier this year that a Russian oligarch with connections to Vladimir Putin had ties to a software vendor that hosts the state鈥檚 voter registration system. Van Hollen, along with Sens. Ben Cardin, another Maryland Democrat, and Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, have introduced legislation that would prohibit foreign ownership of companies that support U.S. election systems.
鈥淲hen all these alarm bells went off, obviously people looked into it closely and are monitoring the situation extra-closely,鈥� Van Hollen said.
The legislation will not be acted upon before next month鈥檚 elections. But Van Hollen hopes it will help address issues such as Russian meddling in the future, saying that 鈥渘o foreign adversary should be able to control any part of America鈥檚 election infrastructure.鈥�
A glaring vulnerability
Michael Greenberger, director of the of the Center for Health and Homeland Security at the University of Maryland, said he supports Van Hollen鈥檚 efforts. But while Maryland has made good steps toward improving voter security, Greenberger still believes there鈥檚 a glaring vulnerability: the state鈥檚 absentee ballot system.
鈥淚t鈥檚 only going to be a matter of time before this becomes a cataclysmic problem,鈥� Greenberger told 海角社区app.
Greenberger believes the process for getting and filling out an absentee ballot is too susceptible to possible fraud. He said 鈥渂ad actors鈥� can obtain a Social Security number for as little as 10 cents on the dark web, which can lead to a potentially bogus ballot.
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 need to be signed, and it鈥檚 been a Damocles sword over the Maryland election system for many years,鈥� he said.
The State Board of Elections says you must mail or hand-deliver your absentee ballot once you鈥檝e filled it out. It can鈥檛 be submitted online or returned by email.
For next month鈥檚 election, your request for an absentee ballot must be received by Tuesday, Oct. 30, if you want to get your ballot by mail or fax. It must be received by Friday, Nov. 2, if you want to .
The show that as of Sept. 30, 3,975,309 voters were registered to vote. That鈥檚 only a few thousand short of the state record, which is 3,977,637.
Nationwide, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told a congressional panel last week that her agency is continually working to protect voting systems against hacking ahead of the Nov. 6 elections.
