ATLANTA, GA — Less than 48 hours before Georgia voters head to the polls to cast ballots on who will become the Peach State’s next governor, the office of the Republican candidate in the race has announced it is investigation his challenger’s political party for an alleged hacking attempt.
The Georgia Secretary of State’s Office led by Republican Brian Kemp said Sunday that it’s investigating the Democratic Party of Georgia’s “failed attempt to hack the state’s voter registration system,” according to a statement on the agency’s website. The SOS said it opened its investigation on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 3.
It also said it notified the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI about the alleged attempt.
“While we cannot comment on the specifics of an ongoing investigation, I can confirm that the Democratic Party of Georgia is under investigation for possible cyber crimes,” said Candice Broce, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office. “We can also confirm that no personal data was breached and our system remains secure.”
The SOS office late Sunday afternoon added more details to its original statement, adding officials received information from its legal team about “failed efforts to breach the online voter registration system and My Voter Page.” The office said it’s working with private sector vendors and investigators to review logs, and has formally asked the FBI to investigate “these possible cyber crimes.”
The Democratic Party of Georgia put out a lengthy statement chastising Kemp’s office, adding the claims by the office are “100 percent false.” Democratic Party Executive Director Rebecca DeHart added Kemp “has a long and well documented history of failing to protect the security” of the state’s elections system and in 2016, was the only secretary of state who refused assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, leaving voters vulnerable to “foreign cyber attacks.”
“On two occasions, Kemp’s office leaked personal information including the Social Security numbers of six million Georgians, forcing Georgia taxpayers to foot the bill for credit monitoring because Brian Kemp’s office made Georgians vulnerable to identity theft,”DeHart charges.
DeHart added Georgians of all political backgrounds are concerned about elections and personal information security. The Democratic Party shares those concerns, but “we did not create, discover, or attempt to take advantage of the deeply vulnerable system used by the Secretary of State’s office,” DeHart said.
“As Kemp aims to deflect blame for his failures, the questions everyone must be asking is: Why was the system vulnerable in the first place?” she asked. “Why has Brian Kemp still not taken basic steps to secure Georgians’ personal information? In the meantime, Brian Kemp’s office is refusing to provide daily absentee ballot and provisional ballot data, information which — unlike Georgians’ Social Security numbers — is something the Secretary of State’s office must actually make available to the public. Our message to Georgia voters remains the same: the best way to beat voter suppression is to vote.”
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Kemp and Abrams are in a contentious battle for the governor’s seat. Both candidates have had political and entertainment heavyweights travel to the Peach State to help stump for votes. Abrams received a visit from former President Barack Obama as well as media mogul Oprah Winfrey and actor Will Ferrell. For his part, Kemp this week hosted a rally with Vice President Mike Pence, and President Donald Trump will campaign alongside the Secretary of State Sunday at a rally in Macon.
Abrams is seeking to become the nation’s first black female governor in history, while Kemp is aiming to maintain the GOP’s stronghold on the office that it’s enjoyed since 2002. As early voting wrapped up Friday, a new poll shows the nation’s most watched governor’s race could be headed for a runoff next month.
The new poll, conducted by Channel 2 and the AJC, shows Abrams and Kemp in a statistical tie at 46 percent, within the poll’s 3-percentage-point margin of error. It’s just the latest poll to show neither candidate is polling close enough to win an outright victory on Tuesday.
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