Contact: Aaron White
Phone: 202-225-5506
[email protected]

Comes following silence from Department of Homeland Security regarding integrity of Wisconsin Elections Systems

La Crosse – Today, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind released the following statement, following a report from NBC News alleging U.S. intelligence officials knew Russian operatives compromised the election databases or website from seven states, including Wisconsin, prior to the 2016 election, but did not communicate the breach to the states involved:

“It is long past due for our Commander in Chief to order our agencies to take all appropriate steps to counter Russia’s, or any other country’s, attempt to interfere with our elections, and communicate past and current threats to any vulnerable states,” said Rep. Ron Kind. “So far, President Trump has refused to do so.”

Nearly two weeks ago, Rep. Kind wrote to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen requesting that DHS immediately tell Wisconsin officials if the state was one of the states the Russians successfully penetrated during the 2016 election, and work with Wisconsin to protect our voting systems from foreign attacks. A response from DHS Secretary Nielsen has not been received.

Read the letter here.

Earlier this year the Department of Homeland Security confirmed that Russia successfully targeted the voting systems of 21 states, including Wisconsin, during the 2016 election. DHS recently confirmed that a number of the states targeted were successfully breached, but has not revealed what states were penetrated or the extent of the interference. The Wisconsin Elections Commission refutes claims that Russian hackers breached Wisconsin elections systems, and confirmed the DHS never notified the state about a potential breach.

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