Montana Secretary Of State – No Hacking Of Voting Systems In Montana
The U,S. Department of Homeland Security reports that several states have had their voter registries hacked, however, Montana's Secretary of State Linda McCullough said Montana has a highly secure voter database.
"Montana has very stringent network security policies in place for its voter database," McCullough said. "Access is restricted to county election staffs only unless they're authorized by the county elections administrator, and in many counties, this is only one or two people. "
McCullogh said the database undergoes constant scrutiny by the IT staff.
"We have out IT people on that all the time, plus the state IT people, so we should be able to tell right away if any hacking has taken place, but I don't think there's any problem with that," she said.
McCullogh said the November general election ballot has been completed and certified.
"We certified the ballots last week on August 25th, and now the layout is being done by the ballot printers for proofing, rotations and other things, and that ballot layout should be completed by September 9th," she continued. "Once that is complete, the ballots will be sent out to military and overseas voters on September 23rd. The ballots will be available for in-person absentee voting by October 11th and then will be mailed out to everyone on the absentee list on October 14th."
McCullogh said Montana's ballot will have five choices for President.
"We have the Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, the Green Party and the American Delta Party," she said. "More people turn out for a presidential election, because you can't complain if you don't vote."
Voter ID laws have been struck down recently in many states. McCollough details what is necessary to register to vote in Montana.
"During the last 30 days before the election, you have to register in the county elections office and provide ID, such as a drivers licence, a tribal ID, a utility bill or another form of identification and fill out the form," she said. "In Montana, you can also register to vote right up until election day. You can go onto our website to My Voter page where you'll find a wealth of information,. It tells you whether you're registered to vote, whether you're an absentee voter or a polling place voter and even gives you directions to your polling place"
The general election will be held on Tuesday, November 8.