CHANGE THE LOCKS

Election security is of utmost concern to protect the sanctity of our one person, one vote system – especially after the 2016 elections, where it has been established that the Russians meddled in our presidential election. Now comes a report in The Washington Post stating that county election websites in the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin are highly vulnerable to potential hacking by Russia or other bad actors who could try to disrupt the 2020 vote by misleading voters about polling locations or spreading other false information before they go to vote. It claimed that up to 45 percent of Michigan’s county election websites lack a key and fairly standard security protection – called HTTPS. Websites with it have that familiar “lock” icon, according to McAfee Security experts, which are easy and inexpensive fixes. Bloomfield Township Clerk Jan Roncelli noted that one of the strengths of Michigan’s system is that election machines are not connected to the internet – “each voting machine is separate and not connected. The county has a website, but doesn’t open its portal until after 8 p.m., after voting is done.” There’s good news from Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown – Oakland County’s website is definitely secure, so it should be safe from interference.