Illinois elections system hack prompts FBI warning to states

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - Illinois elections officials are confident no voter data were compromised this summer when a hacker was able to see information on about 200,000 registered voters.

Ken Menzel (mehn-ZEHL) is general counsel for the Illinois State Board of Elections. He says the online voter-registration system was shut down July 13 when officials noted an unusually high amount of traffic. Security was improved.

The FBI warned state officials Monday to boost their security. State election websites in Arizona and Illinois experienced hack-related shutdowns earlier this summer.

Menzel says the Illinois system's hacker was able to get information that could include driver's license or portions of Social Security numbers. Each affected voter will be notified after a complete accounting.

He says the data accessed are not tied to vote-counting software so election results could not be altered.