TAMPA, Fla. -- Hillsborough County's Elections Supervisor said their machines are ready to go for the upcoming primary on Aug. 28.
- Hillsborough election officials promise election security
- Election security grant must be spent before Nov. election
On Monday, election officials say they ran a successful logic and accuracy test on dozens of ballot scanners.
The test is required by the state. And with election security a top concern, Hillsborough County's Elections Supervisor wanted to assure voters there's nothing to worry about.
"We've got a paper ballot, an optical scan machine," said Craig Latimer, Hillsborough's Elections Supervisor. "You can't hack paper. We can always go back and recreate an election. We can re-scan these ballots, but I tell people too, you trust $460 million to an optical scanning lottery machine. We're trusting these machines too. It's good technology."
Hillsborough's elections office recently received $814,480 to beef up election security in 2018. According to the state, the funding can be used for physical security, cyber-security, voting system upgrades and post-election and risk assessment audits.
Officials in Hillsborough won’t say exactly how they plan to spend the grant money.
"We're putting more security in place to enhance what we already have to beef up both our cyber-security and our physical security of our building," Latimer said.
The election security grant must be spent before the November election.
Hillsborough County also received separate funding for a system to help identify and share potential election threats between states. That system is supposed to help counties respond quickly when information may be at risk.