The dangers of linking votes to the internet

The story on Gov. Rauner's comments in Collinsville on July 17 demonstrates the utter lack of knowledge the governor has on facts versus fake news stories. It is now a tossup as to which candidate for governor is least qualified to manage the state of Illinois.

He said 22 states' election systems were hacked by Russia. This has been totally debunked and he should know this. Virtually all states do not even use the internet to collect and tabulate election voting. Computers are used to vote, but they are not connected to the internet in precinct. Not during voting or in tabulation. The memory cards are brought to a location for tabulation. These totals are done independently usually at county locations.

This fact was confirmed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who said, "Not a single vote was tampered with by Russian hacking."

Now were Russian agents or citizens involved in hacking campaigns and campaign advertisements? Yes.

Campaign money was also directed to different candidates by Russians through social media, although based upon data, it was a few million dollars. In campaigns spending billions, it is hard to believe that had much of an impact on elections in 2016.

So my advice. To the few states who currently use internet connections for voting and voting on line. This is a door just waiting to be opened by any person or country. Take a step back and do a "do over."

And to Gov. Rauner get your head back in reality and start dealing with facts. Like, Illinois is bleeding citizens and dollars. Hello, is anybody home?

Richard Francke

Bartlett