New book names second Florida county with election system hacked by Russia in 2016

A forthcoming book names St. Lucie County as one of two Florida counties whose election systems were hacked by the Russians during the 2016 election.

CNN obtained an advance copy of reporter Bob Woodward’s new book “Rage,” which will be released on September 15. The book said the National Security Agency and Central Intelligence Agency have classified evidence that Russians placed malware in the election registration systems of at least two Florida counties. Previous reports named Washington County as one of the two counties, but St. Lucie County hasn’t been identified as the second until now.

According to CNN, the book says that “Russians had placed malware in the election registration systems of at least two Florida counties, St. Lucie and Washington.” There’s no evidence that the malware was activated or that voter registration information was altered, according to CNN’s account of the book.

Woodward wrote that the malware “was sophisticated and could erase voters in specific districts,” according to CNN.

St. Lucie County Supervisor of Elections Gertrude Walker did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

In April 2019, Walker said to TC Palm that she was unaware of any successful hacking attempts to the county’s elections systems in 2016 after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report was issued, documenting his findings and conclusions of Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election.

“Nothing was impacted in St. Lucie County,” Walker said.

In the same interview, Walker said she was not aware of any attacks to computers that could have impacted voter registration. She said the results of voting totals are not connected to the internet, nor is the tabulation system.

St. Lucie County, which has a population of about 320,000, is located on Florida’s Treasure Coast and narrowly flipped to President Donald Trump in 2016 after Democrats had won the previous five presidential elections in the county.

Washington County Supervisor of Elections Carol Rudd did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In May 2019, Rudd said she was unable to confirm reports that Washington County was hacked.

“As your request relates to potential communications between my office and various federal agencies, including DHS [Department of Homeland Security] and FBI, and because my answers could either directly or indirectly allow yourself or others, including nation states trying to do harm to our elections process, to ascertain details harmful to national security, I will exercise the protections offered under FOIA and CISA of 2015 in regards to your request,” Rudd wrote to the Miami Herald.

FOIA and CISA are federal laws that allow officials to withhold information from the public if the information compromises U.S. national security.

Washington County is a small, rural county of about 25,000 people in the Florida Panhandle. The county has supported the Republican presidential candidate dating back to 1976, and Trump received over 77% support in the county in 2016.

Members of Congress from Florida and Gov. Ron DeSantis were sworn to secrecy last year when they were told during an FBI briefing which two counties were hacked, though members of Congress from both parties demanded that the information be made public.

“It is untenable to continue to hold this information classified and not to let the public know,” said Central Florida Democratic Rep. Stephanie Murphy in 2019. “This chaotic, drib drab of information that is coming out is doing more harm to constituents’ faith in our electoral system.”

Miami Democratic Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell did not confirm Woodward’s report, but said in a statement on Wednesday that the new information “shows a disturbing pattern by the president to not protect our democracy.”

“It’s glaring that nearly every part of our government — except the commander in chief — has concluded that the Russians meddled in the 2016 election,” said Mucarsel-Powell, who is running for reelection against the Trump-endorsed Republican Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez. “There is now overwhelming evidence that Russia and other foreign actors are interfering again in this year’s election, and it’s unacceptable that President Trump does nothing to stand up to Russia or secure our election.”

Woodward’s report is the latest revelation in a long-running saga of Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election in Florida. Mueller’s report released in April 2019 said Russian hackers gained access to at least one Florida county’s computer network during the 2016 campaign. A Senate Intelligence Committee report released three months later expanded on Mueller’s report, saying that four Florida county elections systems had been hacked.

This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 4:08 PM.