Efforts to fortify the cyberdefenses of Minnesota's voter registration system got a boost Friday when Gov. Mark Dayton included funding for the project in his new budget plan, and a legislative auditor's report recommended upgrades to a system it said is "showing signs of strain."
The DFL governor proposed spending $381,000 a year for election cybersecurity. Secretary of State Steve Simon said that $350,000 of that would allow him to hire three or four people to write code to improve the system's ability to detect and repel intruders. Total cost: $1.4 million over four years.
"It's a small appropriation in the grand scheme of things," said Rep. Laurie Halverson, DFL-Eagan, who with Sen. Susan Kent, DFL-Woodbury, has introduced legislation that would fund the security updates and establish automatic voter registration.
Minnesota was among 21 states where voter databases were targeted by entities working at the behest of the Russian government in 2016. The state's registration system was not hacked, but those in Illinois and Arizona were.
Voter registration systems contain sensitive private information, sometimes including Social Security numbers and address histories. Minnesota's has been in use since 2004.
In a briefing for reporters, Simon said addressing the threat of a cyberattack by "someone meaning to do us harm by undermining our democracy" is "very timely and critical and urgent."
Simon said Dayton's spending plan also includes $87,000 to make other improvements this year that were recommended by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Separately, the Office of the Legislative Auditor called the voter database "an aging system that is showing signs of strain." The report, released by a joint House and Senate subcommittee, urged Simon to work with the Legislature to fund the improvements.
