From the Desk of Supervisor John Hanlon ....

In response to the recent news report on Russia's attempt to hack Florida vendor's election systems, here's what Supervisor Hanlon wants to the voters of Gulf County to know.

• Florida votes on paper ballots leaving a trail for every vote cast. You can't hack paper.
• VR Systems does not sell products that mark or tabulate votes.  We have a separate vendor for our voting and tabulation equipment
• Our voting equipment has no connection to the outside world.  You can't hack something you can't see.
• Our post-election manual audit (required after every election) was completed with 100% accuracy, confirming the machine count was equivalent to the human count of ballots.
• Unfortunately, phishing email scams are not uncommon and individuals are targeted everyday.  Protect yourself by recognizing the risk and disregarding the message.
• VR Systems promptly notified all customers of the potential threat and measures were taken to prevent data from being compromised.
• Our staff is trained to identify and avoid potential scams and instructed to report any suspicious activity.
• Voter registration information is public record with few exceptions.  Anyone can request these records for any reason (Chapter 119, Florida Statutes).
• There are no indications of any attempt to obtain unauthorized access to Gulf County's voter registration system.

If you have questions, I would be happy to address them.  You can contact me by phone at 850-229-6117 or email at gulfsoe@votegulf.com.