Kentucky official: Foreign actors, including Russians, North Koreans, target election system

FRANKFORT — "Bad actors" from hostile countries are continuing their attempts to exploit the Kentucky election system, the executive director of the State Board of Elections told legislators Tuesday.

Jared Dearing told a state House budget subcommittee that a U.S. Department of Homeland Security official meets with the board every week to go over every scan against Kentucky's system, which gives him "sleepless nights."

"We are routinely scanned by Venezuela, by North Korea, by Russia on a regular basis," Dearing said. "This is not something that is in the past, that happened in 2016. It happens on a weekly basis."

Dearing stressed the need for funding to modernize election security in Kentucky.

He said that while state officials don’t necessarily know that these scans are coming from nation-state actors, he can surmise they are "not for good intentions” and are likely looking for vulnerabilities to be exploited in the state system.

Previous attacks on election systems by foreign actors in the 2016 election focused on state-level systems, which have since beefed up security, though Dearing told legislators that "we’re now seeing those bad actors target the county level.”

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With that increased county-level threat of hacking, Dearing plans to hire a new chief information security official who would train employees in county clerks' offices, which remain more vulnerable to attacks.

“We’re asking county clerks with very, very limited resources, with not enough IT staff, to fully maintain their own systems," Dearing said. "We’re asking them to participate in national security.”

Dearing said the proposed two-year budget of Gov. Andy Beshear was close to the election board's requested funding level, with a 20% state match freeing up a $6.4 million federal grant, part of a $425 million appropriation to improve states' election security.

He hopes the state will continue funding at that level in case federal money dries up in future years, so the board can continue employing the new security official.

While those federal funds were supported by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Democratic Party highlighted Dearing's remarks on foreign interference in a press release criticizing the senator for Republicans blocking election security legislation last week.

Earlier: Mitch McConnell says he'll support $250M for election security

On Feb. 11, Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., blocked an effort by Democrats to unanimously pass bills requiring campaigns to report offers of foreign election assistance to the FBI and the Federal Election Commission. She also objected to the passage of a bill that would provide additional election security funding, ban voting machines from being connected to the internet and ban machines manufactured in another country.

“It’s extremely alarming to hear that Russia and other foreign actors are already scoping out Kentucky’s election systems in order to potentially interfere in our 2020 elections," stated Kentucky Democratic Party Chairman Ben Self in the press release. "It is unacceptable that Mitch continues to stand in the way of important bipartisan legislation intended to crack down on foreign interference in our elections."

McConnell spokeswoman Stephanie Penn responded in an emailed statement that the senator has "a long and strong record of fighting for fair and effective voting procedures" and "the utmost confidence in Director Dearing and Secretary of State (Michael) Adams in keeping the Commonwealth’s elections safe and secure."

Penn also highlighted the potential $6 million that McConnell helped secure for Kentucky's election security in December, while a press release from McConnell's office last week described the three election security bills blocked in the Senate as "partisan legislation."

Dearing noted in the committee meeting that despite the new federal funding, counties would need another $60-80 million to completely upgrade their outdated voting machines.

In addition to finding vulnerabilities in Kentucky's election system, Dearing said another possible reason why foreign actors would scan the state's system could be related to McConnell, who is up for reelection this year.

"Regardless of whether we’re a swing state or not," Dearing said, "I would posit the fact that one of the most powerful politicians in the country resides in the state and will be on the ballot in the next election.”

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Reach reporter Joe Sonka at jsonka@courierjournal.com or 502-582-4472 and follow him on Twitter at @joesonka. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courierjournal.com/subscribe.