Two House Republicans sent a letter It sought answers from the D.C. Elections Commission on Thursday after the commission revealed last week that a data breach exposed voters' personal information.
board informed the people Last week, it was reported that the information of about 400,000 voters was compromised in an October hack.
In a letter, Rep. Brian Still (R-Wis.) and Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) shared their “deep concern” about the incident.
“This violation is particularly troubling because the board appears not to have been aware of its full extent until two weeks later,” they wrote. “For Americans to have confidence in their elections, they must have reason to believe that voter databases and voter information are safe, secure, and not susceptible to malicious access or manipulation.”
The commission said the data breach was the responsibility of the contractor DataNet Systems, which hosted the compromised servers. Datanet investigated the incident for two months, the results of which were made public last week, the board said.
“DCBOE recognizes that DataNet's assistance may not appear timely; however, there was a multi-layered review and investigation involving government and non-government agencies,” the commission wrote. ing. Its public release. “This notice was issued after DataNet's review was completed. The timing was unique to them.”
datanet said Information that may have been released included voters' names, addresses, dates of birth, portions of their Social Security numbers, and driver's license numbers, officials said.
Lawmakers also warned that the hack could jeopardize election security for the 2024 election cycle and could fuel distrust in voting systems among district voters.
The letter included questions for the board, including the status of the investigation, corrective actions and potential strategies to increase voter confidence in elections.
The Hill has reached out to the D.C. Board of Elections for comment.
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