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* UPDATED x1 - Mariotti makes another false claim * Russian hackers were trying to “erode the public’s confidence”

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Illinois

* Remember when Democratic attorney general candidate Renato Mariotti said this?…

“I’ve been talking about issues — all voting machines have been penetrated by the Russians in Illinois and no one really seems to be talking about it.”

* Well…

Russian hacking into the Illinois voter registration system in the summer of 2016 shouldn’t shake voters’ confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, a panel of election experts said during a Monday forum in Highland Park.

Lake County Clerk Carla Wyckoff said there is a common misconception that voting is done on the Internet and it’s very easy to hack into the voting results.

“That is simply not true,” Wyckoff said during the forum, sponsored by the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform. […]

“I think the frustration of these people is they can’t hack into our actual tabulation, so then they go after the next biggest thing, which is the statewide voter registration,” Wyckoff said. “Even that was not successful, so their next strategy is just to erode the public’s confidence.” […]

“Ultimately, the easiest way for some nefarious outsider, I feel, to cause harm to the process isn’t going to be breaking into some technical aspect of the elections, though there are some vulnerabilities that we want to take care of,” [Colin Williams, policy data director for ICPR] said.

“It is making people feel that they don’t want to go out to vote, because they don’t think it will end up counting,” he added.

I’ve asked Mariotti’s campaign for comment because he really needs to stop saying this stuff. He is playing right into their hands.

*** UPDATE *** From the candidate…

What we know is that the Department of Homeland Security reported that Russia tried to penetrate the voting systems of 21 states, and Illinois was one of them. I previously misspoke and said that all voting machines have been penetrated by the Russians when what I meant to say is that all voting records have been penetrated by the Russians. We don’t know enough about what the Russians did here in Illinois, so I’m glad this panel and the election authorities were able to provide more clarity on this issue and share their concerns about the state of the security measures in place going forward. As Attorney General, I will conduct an investigation to determine what other election systems hackers may have accessed to protect the integrity of our election system. The people of Illinois deserve a complete and transparent accounting of the manner and extent that our electoral system was compromised so that we can make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“All voting records have been penetrated by the Russians”? Nope…

Wyckoff said that of millions of state voter registration records, about 75,000 were “likely viewed by the hackers”

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 12:51 pm

Comments

Too late, already eroded.

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 12:57 pm
Is there even any electronic voting, like kiosks or anything, in IL? I’ve always had a paper ballot when I go to my voting site. Now that’s a grand total of 3 sites, but still. I can see how some people might think it’s networked together if they vote using a machine, but I don’t know how people think hackers are going to change their paper ballots.

Comment by Perrid Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:02 pm
While our machines are safe, it would behoove the United States to invest in simple paper-trail voting machines, that come with receipts.

I get receipt when I buy a donut. How come I don’t get one when I vote?

Comment by 33rd Ward Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:03 pm
Anybody catch that two part Frontline program on Putin and his attack on American democracy? It’s available on-line, and if you have two hours to spare, watching this is how you should spend that time.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:05 pm
Irresponsible comments attract attention for candidates. Trump proves that comments need not be accurate to get attention and satisfy a base.

Comment by anon2 Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:12 pm
=Anybody catch that two part Frontline program on Putin and his attack on American democracy?=
Yes. It relies on the premise that the USA is a third-world luddite victim.

Nobody has trashed our democracy as badly as we have: Gerrymandering, legalized bribery, foreign money super PACS, corporate personhood, and rejection of third parties and independents.

Comment by Frequently Blocked By Rich Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:13 pm
“Is there even any electronic voting, like kiosks or anything, in IL?”

Illinois’ second-most populous county uses touch-screen voting machines: https://www.dupageco.org/Election/Voting/53615/

– MrJM

Comment by @MisterJayEm Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:15 pm
“I get receipt when I buy a donut” —- is that you Yakov? /s

Comment by Baloneymous Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:17 pm
47th, I saw Part 1, not all of Part 2. Putin plays chess/hardball, Bush II and Obama play checkers/wiffle ball.

Comment by James the Intolerant Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:20 pm
“Russian hacking into the Illinois voter registration system in the summer of 2016 shouldn’t shake voters’ confidence in the integrity of the electoral process, a panel of election experts said”

ok, but if it was something that should shake voters’ confidence, it’s not like that panel of experts would tell us.

at my polling place I fill out a paper ballot but it disappears into a diebold machine to be “counted,” so how is that any better than a touchscreen?

Comment by Homer J. Quinn Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:20 pm
When I’ve voted on electronic machines, the machine prints-out a “receipt” detailing your vote that you can view — it doesn’t give you the receipt but rather retains it to maintain a paper trail.

Comment by Just Observing Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:20 pm
Rich: The “well” hyperlink seems to not be working.

Comment by Just Observing Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:21 pm
Watch the rest of Part 2 when you can. Russia attacked us last year and not enough people seem to give a (deleted).

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:22 pm
Look, no one is going to pay attention to a candidate no one has ever heard of unless that candidate says some ridiculous stuff. That’s how Scott Drury got to where he is.

Comment by George Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:28 pm
47th- I watched both parts last night, and agree that if you haven’t seen it, you should. Very informative and eye opening.

If Mariotti keeps repeating this fake news, he’s nothing but a Russian hack himself.

Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:33 pm
….who is Scott Drury?

Comment by ILDemVoter Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:53 pm
He was, like, a Lt. Guv nominee for a hot second, I think.

Comment by George Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:58 pm
Yes Mariotti does need to stop saying this stuff.
Carla Wycoff is correct. She and her staff take voting integrity very seriously and run an honest and tight ship in Lake County. (As did her predecessor, Willard Helander.) The “vulnerabilities” in the election system are not related to internet voting —and ethical and properly trained election judges are able to identify and manage most of them.

Comment by Responsa Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 1:58 pm
Any candidate willing to dig whistle in a way that aids our enemies in undermining our democracy isn’t a candidate I can see as an honest or virtuous person trying to do what they think is “right”.

My hope is that Mariotti loses badly.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 2:01 pm
The Putin “Frontline” is outstanding. The Russians have not stopped their attacks. Doesn’t seem to be a priority in some circles, though.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 2:12 pm
To the update,

If you can’t be honest about nefarious things, things that aid the enemy of the United States, Mariotti will be a disaster as a candidate let alone as an elected Attornry General of Illinois.

I hope Dems decide he’s not a nominee they want.

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 2:26 pm
Um. . . Scott Drury is the State Rep, who is a former federal prosecutor, who was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor, but flipped to the AG race when Lisa Madigan announced she wouldn’t run. You may have been thinking about the Scott Lee Cohen campaign for Lt. Gov in 2010.

Comment by Lt Guv Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 2:36 pm
47 “watching this is how you should spend that time.”

Agreed - it’s important. But are you saying that we should not spend our time commenting on cap fax all day ?

Comment by poe Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 2:40 pm
Poe,

Multitask.

Comment by Chicago Cynic Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 2:53 pm
@Lt Guv- I think George (as well as myself) were being sarcastic because Scott Drury is probably the most irrelevant person that has come up in this entire conversation. For the record- Renato and Sharon are both former federal prosecutors as well. I also don’t understand the uproar, we really don’t know the extent of the damage & penetration that was done in Illinois or anywhere. I don’t think anyone here has the cybersecurity expertise or have conducted thorough to confirm comments that Illinois was completely secure and unbreached. It is something the Feds are still investigating…

Comment by ILDemVoter Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 3:02 pm
33rd…

Agree, never understood why you wouldn’t have a paper trail as part of any voting system. Just makes audit so much easier. It also just makes people feel better.

As for the hacking of the records.

Lots of entities have voter lists as I understand it (legitimately). I wouldn’t consider them to protected, to begin with.

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 3:09 pm
Isn’t it great, that now you can have your set of facts to go along with your opinions! /s

Comment by WhoKnew Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 3:13 pm
Thanks ILDemVoter. I wondered that at the time, but wasn’t sure.

Comment by Lt Guv Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 3:39 pm
No wonder why he Marriotti was always on MSNBC

Comment by Lucky Pierre Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 3:53 pm
I always thought you had to be pretty smart to graduate from law school and pass the bar exam. Oh well….

Comment by don the legend Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 3:57 pm
Renato Mariotti seems like a good guy, but there doesn’t appear to be much to him. His TV appearances are great and all, but what good does that do for folks here in IL? Also, spreading false information is very dishonest and makes him look ill-informed. I hope AG candidates can actually articulate what they can do with the position

Comment by Starstruck Thursday, Nov 2, 17 @ 4:54 pm