Mayor Bill de Blasio will reportedly spend $500,000 to protect the city’s election systems against hackers in the wake of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

De Blasio is expected to make the announcement about improving cybersecurity at the board of elections during Tuesday night’s State of the City address, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“Few things are more important than protecting our elections from those seeking to undermine our democracy,” the mayor said in a statement to the Journal.

“As the cyber skills of adversaries abroad and troublemakers at home develop, so too must the defensive protocols in place to keep our elections fair.”

De Blasio has criticized the city’s election system as “antiquated” and “outdated” in the past.