The Latest: In AP poll, 19 states confirm being hack targets

WASHINGTON — The Latest on the federal government’s notification to 21 states about election hacking (all times local):

8 p.m.

A 50-state tally by The Associated Press shows election officials in 19 states confirm their election systems were targeted by hackers last year.

The states are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

North Dakota was the only state that failed to provide answers. Republican Secretary of State Al Jaeger says he “can’t be specific at this time what the situation is.” He says he’s trying to get more information from Washington.

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A response also isn’t available from the District of Columbia.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it recognizes state and local officials should be kept informed about cybersecurity risks to election infrastructure.

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7:10 p.m.

Virginia U.S. Sen. Mark Warner is praising the federal government’s notification to 21 states about election hacking attempts last year but says it should have come sooner.

The Democrat says it’s unacceptable it took almost a year after the presidential election to notify states their elections systems were targeted. He says he’s relieved the Department of Homeland Security is finally informing the top elections officials in all 21 affected states “that Russian hackers tried to breach their systems in the run up to the 2016 election.”

States that told The Associated Press they had been targeted include Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. In most cases, they had not known until notified Friday by the Department of Homeland Security.

Warner says Homeland Security needs to notify state and local governments in real time of attempts to attack voting systems.

Russia has denied hacking the election.

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5:05 p.m.

The federal government is telling election officials in 21 states that hackers targeted their systems last year, although in most cases the systems were not breached.

States that told The Associated Press they had been targeted include Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. In most cases, they had not known until notified Friday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security officials tell the AP that in September hackers believed to be Russian agents targeted voter registration systems in more than 20 states.

The disclosure to the states comes as a special counsel probes whether there was any co-ordination during the 2016 presidential campaign between Russia and associates of Donald Trump.

Trump won the election and calls the Russia story a hoax.

The Associated Press