This is not good news. In a world where cybersecurity dominates the headlines, a bipartisan commission has created new jobs to safeguard the 2018 election and Scott Walker’s administration can’t get around to filling them. Wisconsin’s bipartisan state Elections Commission voted in April to create six new positions, all with election-security duties, plus two specializing in elections IT and one in security training to local election workers. At present, they sit vacant and the August primary is right around the corner. Wisconsin State Journal:
It’s now clear the positions won’t be filled before the Aug. 14 primary election. At least one commissioner and a Democratic state legislative leader say it’s critical that the roles are filled by the November midterms.
National security officials have warned that malicious cyber actors, including those tied to the Russian government, this year may reprise or intensify their attacks on U.S. election systems. […]
Russian government cyber actors tried to access Wisconsin’s state IT systems in 2016 but weren’t able to do so, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revealed last year.
“We’ve seen the recent Mueller indictment and the Russians’ ability to deconstruct our infrastructure,” [Commission member Democrat Mark] Thomsen said, adding, “as a commissioner, I’m concerned with what is happening.”
Democratic Assembly Leader Gordon Hintz, in an interview Thursday, questioned why the Walker administration hasn’t taken election security more seriously.
“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t expect more (hacking) attempts,” said Hintz, D-Oshkosh. “Why is this such a low priority?”
Ask Scott Walker because it’s definitely a low priority for him. Last year he vetoed a bipartisan plan to expand the state elections staff, saying that the commission “has been operating effectively with fewer staff.” The elections commission moved ahead anyway without him and secured a $7Million federal grant to pay for the new staff positions. Is this the shape of things to come, civil servants have to work around elected officials because they won’t do the job? Scott Walker is living in a dreamworld if he thinks cyberwar is not real and not affecting elections. If Walker doesn’t take election tampering seriously, in this day and age, he needs to go the way of the dinosaur and be replaced by somebody up to speed.
