skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Is SD's Midterm Election Secure from Hacking?

play audio
Play

Monday, July 23, 2018   

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Only 18 states and territories have requested on-site risk and vulnerability assessments of their voting systems, despite the midterm election approaching and repeated warnings those systems could be compromised.

After hearing that, Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee's Cybersecurity Subcommittee, became a co-sponsor of the Secure Elections Act to provide more money to states to improve safeguards.

But even if it passes, the funding most likely won't reach states in time for the midterms.

Heather Smith, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of South Dakota says 92 million Americans eligible to vote did not do so in 2016, and trust in the system is often cited as a reason.

"Our system of democracy is contingent on people being able to vote and for them, feeling like their vote does actually count and does get counted," she states.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, only 13 states said they intended to use the federal dollars appropriated back in March to buy new voting machines. Another 22 had no plans to replace voting machines before the midterm election.

So far, there's no proof that tampering with voting machines has changed an election outcome.

But Homeland Security also told Congress it believes Russians have "scanned" every state, looking for database vulnerabilities.

Experts say Internet connections and staffing issues at the local level make databases the weak link in the U.S. election system.

Smith says many of South Dakota's 66 counties reported some difficulties in the most recent election.

"We've seen problems in South Dakota during the last primary in June, where there were eight counties that were using electronic poll-book systems and they were hit with some kind of computer glitch,” she relates. “If you have eight counties in South Dakota, that's a lot of counties that had difficulties with voting."

A 2018 report lists South Dakota as one of four states where people say they don't register to vote because they don't know where or how, and miss the deadlines.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Corporate partners sign contracts to offer a graduate assistantship and pay the students. In turn, MSU pays the graduate assistant's tuition, fees and salary, so the assistantship is directly tied to the academic experience. (pressmaster/Adobe Stock)

play sound

By Victoria Lim for WorkingNation.Broadcast version by Farah Siddiqi for Missouri News Service reporting for the WorkingNation-Public News Service Col…


Social Issues

play sound

A new report brands Connecticut's tax system as "regressive" for low- to middle-income residents and uses a report from the state to make its point…

Environment

play sound

Backers of a new federal rule said it will increase fairness for livestock and poultry producers, in North Carolina and across the country. The U.S…


A study by the advocacy group Inseparable showed one in five adults said at any given time, they consider their mental health to be either 'fair' or 'poor.' (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Mental health care advocates are encouraging federal agencies to adopt a proposed update to regulations which would expand access to psychological car…

Social Issues

play sound

With hotter summers bringing hotter working conditions, the Maryland Department of Labor is implementing a heat stress standard to protect workers …

Social Issues

play sound

By Jimmy Cloutier for OpenSecrets.Broadcast version by Roz Brown for Texas News Service reporting for the OpenSecrets-Public News Service Collaboratio…

Environment

play sound

Recreational fishermen in New England say commercial trawlers are threatening the survival of smaller businesses relying on a healthy stock of Atlanti…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021