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State of security: Connecticut

Who is in charge: Secretary of State Denise Merrill

Connecticut is going into the 2018 election with a high level of confidence that the state will be able to secure the election process.

Secretary of State Denise Merrill discussed the issue with Connecticut Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D) and Senator Chris Murphy (D) when she brought up that the state was able to defeat a Russian attack in 2016.

However, the state is not resting on its laurels and plans to spend the $5.1 million it received in federal funding to purchase additional voting equipment and upgrade the security on local voting hardware. Plans also include assessing and addressing potential cyber vulnerabilities, enhancing post-election audits, improving voter registration systems and management, increasing and enhancing training for local election officials.

One purchase made in the run-up to Election Day was for 169 AccuVote Optical Scan tabulators, devices the state has been using since 2006. The machines, like the actual voting machines in Connecticut, are considered more secure because they are not connected to the internet and retain a paper ballot

The state will also support the University of Connecticut Center for Voting Technology Research, funding the regional election monitors and hiring a fulltime election cybersecurity consultant.

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