If the Department of Homeland Security has evidence that Russian agents electronically penetrated Alaska’s election system, the agency hasn’t shared that information with the State of Alaska.
That was the word Tuesday after NBC News published an article citing a top-secret Obama administration report and three unnamed “senior intelligence officials” who said Alaska’s election system was one of seven state systems “compromised” by Russian activity.
The article concluded that the states (in addition to Alaska) were Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin. The article, again citing the unnamed officials, said some states were compromised worse than others, with activity ranging “from entry into state websites to penetration of actual voter registration databases.”
Josie Bahnke, director of the Alaska Division of Elections, said Tuesday afternoon that the state has no new information beyond what it learned in September 2017. In that month, state officials were told by Homeland Security that Russian agencies visited publicly accessible websites belonging to the Division of Elections about the time of the fall 2016 presidential election.
“At that time, it was a public information website, it was not our voter registration database or voter tabulation system or anything that would have an effect on the election,” Bahnke said.
“That’s the last news that we’ve heard,” she said, referencing the September 2017 report.
In a separate interview Tuesday, Bahnke said the state relies on federal intelligence agencies for information about foreign activity targeting the state’s elections system.
“We’re relying heavily on the intelligence community to get us that information when they receive it in a timely manner,” she said.
• Contact reporter James Brooks at jbrooks@juneauempire.com or call 523-2258.
