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The U.S Democratic Senator Bill Nelson from Florida informed the Tampa Bay Times that Russian agents have breached the election systems of Florida. Nelson added that they have already breached specific counties in the State. The remarks of Nelson reportedly caused a disturbance among the election officials of the State. These officials are busy in preparing for midterm elections planned in the month of November 2018. The State leaders don’t appear in keeping election officials in the loop, in spite of the recent statements and ongoing concerns regarding election security. Okaloosa Supervisor of Elections Paul Lux informed the Tampa Bay Times that there has been no current communication with anyone regarding any breach or such kind of issue. Nelson also informed that the U.S Senate Intelligence Committee has instructed the State officials to alert election supervisors that foreign agents had accessed their records.

The U.S Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) is a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee and two Florida county officials told the Tampa Bay Times that the Senator had reported similar information during a private meeting held in May. But he asked those in attendance to keep the information under wraps. Some that were privy to Rubio’s warnings said, however, what little information was provided wasn’t enough to inform a strategy against such attacks. Nelson suggested that manipulating voter rolls could be a goal of the attacks. Nelson’s statements come as others have reported attacks targeting 2018 campaigns. Last month, Microsoft said that it uncovered phishing attempts, believed to be of Russian origin, against three candidates running for election in 2018, while Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) reported that her campaign had been targeted by Russia-based groups as well.