The 2020 United States presidential elections are being considered as a landmark event in judging the fate of its policies as well as foreign policies. In preparation for the massive moment, many states in the United States have already begun to take steps to prevent any sort of malpractices. This included taking precautions against crimes such as the one linked to a cryptocurrency company last year.
Political officials in Ohio recently talked about how the state was planning to ensure record-breaking voter turnout this year. One of the main issues being tackled is long wait times which leads to voter disinterest.
Frank LaRose, the Ohio Secretary of State revealed that during the 2020 elections, voters will be able to cast their votes early using a mail-in option. The mail-in option has been increasingly growing in popularity across the states where voters will be sent an absentee ballot request to every registered voter in the region.
The state and its officials are taking various steps to make the voting process simpler and more streamlined. With information being overloaded into state servers, LaRose added that its security was another major priority. This comes at a time when unrest between the United States and some other regions such as Iran and Russia are at an all-time high.
Last year during election day, Ohio had faced a hack invasion that threatened to reveal voter polling places. Thankfully no information was exposed but the event reaffirmed the fact that cybersecurity was of utmost importance. A trace of the hack revealed that the attack was launched from a server in Panama. This server was linked to a Russian cryptocurrency company, although it was not confirmed whether it was a state-sponsored attack.
LaRose said:
“You can imagine why that would have caused trouble if the bad guys had been able to knock that down. This is a top national security priority in the midst of all the other challenges that we are facing at this time,When all 88 counties have completed that 34-point checklist at the end of January, I’ll be able to say that Ohio has the most aggressive election cybersecurity posture of any state the nation.”
News about blockchain or cryptocurrencies being used to meddle with elections has been doing the rounds for the last two years. In July 2018, 12 Russian hackers were indicted for hacking the email accounts held by then-Democratic primary Hillary Clinton. The defendants planned to launder close to $95,000 through cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.
LaRose, ever the proud Republican claimed that members from both sides should set their differences aside and work on making the country’s election the safest it can be. According to the Ohio Secretary, the state will be implementing features such as creating a safe password, implementing background checks as well as multi-factor authentications.
