Currents November 2017 | Page 3

Currents November 2017 3 Hacked? T here are few opportunities for warfare passed over by the USA and when we are directly attacked the perpetrator soon feels the country's wrath, another instance, when Pearl Harbor was attacked, America's response was executed with force and vigor. Most politicians and media pundits have likened the election system hacking event to another Pearl Harbor. Only this homeland attack was met with Meh! Some states are making efforts to enhance election secu- rity but have been met with resist- ance of an economics kind. As usual the delay is at least two pronged. Confusion over who has the Right and Obligation to do something and of course, more importantly, who has the Obligation to pay for the warfare. Politico: “We just don’t fund elections,” said Lawrence Norden, deputy director of the Democracy Pro- gram at New York University Law School’s Brennan Center for Jus- tice, who co-wrote a recent report on digitally securing America's elections. “Nobody’s really sure who’s responsible for this.” The Constitution grants states the power to run elections, creat- ing a clean division that existed until the indecipherable punch- card ballots that plagued the 2000 presidential contest in Florida exposed the nation’s widely varying voting procedures and often-outdated equipment. In 2002, Congress responded by passing the Help America Vote Act, which provided nearly $4 billion to enable states to update their voting equipment. The law also created the federal Election Assistance Commission to work with them. The commission has now awarded all but $301 million of the appropriated funds, and states have expended most of what they received. Thirteen states have spent their entire allotment, and 28 states have spent over 90 percent. Also, Con- gress has yet to appropriate $395 million of the total. The bottom line seems to be that no one has proven that Vote Tallies were effected. And as always, the lines seem to fall along well defined grounds. Those who make a living selling services to prevent cyber intru- sion say "No one as done enough." Those who make a live governing the election services say No one has hacked us and if they did no data was added, changed or removed." Miami Herald Russian hackers tried to break continued on page 4 > S TOP Y OUR W INDOW L EAK P ROBLEMS Be P h u repa rric red Fix you ane for th s r W in eas e n O dow on W! Lea ks Dried out gaskets and window stripping will cause window leaks. I have the proper window stripping to repair all types of windows. I also do Screening, Wrol-up Repair and Sliding Glass Doors. C ALL Ree F s A te estiM P AtRiCk Cell no. 954-829-4348 [email protected] FPL independent Participating Contractor 3621 Washington s treet • h ollywood, FL 33021