Governor Ron DeSantis has announced plans to give money to county election supervisors for election security... using money they already had. DeSantis says he's re-directing 2.3 million in unspent money from the 2018 election... to go with 2.8 million set aside by the Florida legislature.
The 2.3 million dollars is money that the election supervisors had to return to the state, because it hadn't been spent. That's on top of nearly three million dollars budgeted by the Legislature. DeSantis and secretary of state Laurel Lee say they'll run tests on the election system and address any flaws before next year's Presidential primary.
Last month, the governor said two Florida counties were hacked by Russians prior to the 2016 elections, but that there was no “manipulation” of voting results.
DeSantis says he will request even more money for election security in his 2020 budget proposal, depending on what potential vulnerabilities elections supervisors find in the coming months.
Material from the News Service of Florida was used in this report.
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