US cyber security official says 21 states’ voter rolls were hacked during 2016 election

There is no evidence the voter registration rolls were changed in any way

Twenty-one states had their voter registration rolls 'penetrated' in 2016 according to a US cybersecurity official. (REUTERS/Keith Bedford/File Photo)

The voter registration rolls of several US states were “successfully penetrated” by Russia, according to the US official in charge of protecting elections.

Jeanette Manfra, the head of cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), told NBC News that 21 states were targeted during the 2016 US election.

An “exceptionally small number of them were actually successfully penetrated,” Ms Manfra said, adding there was no evidence the voter rolls were altered in any way nor were any of the systems targeted involved in actual counting of votes.

US elections are part of the country’s “critical infrastructure,” much like power grids and certain transportation routes, and so fall under the purview of DHS.

Jeh Johnson, DHS director during the 2016 election, said "2016 was a wake-up call and now it's incumbent upon states and the Feds to do something about it before our democracy is attacked again."

However, he and Ms Manfra disagree about how seriously the 21 states have taken the issue.

Mr Johnson felt states were not doing enough to combat future threats, particularly with the 2018 midterm elections coming up.

Ms Manfra said “they have all taken it seriously."

NBC News contacted the 21 states targeted and five - including Texas and California - said they were not hacked.

But, states argued that much of the information Ms Manfra and her team provided was classified and state officials were left in the dark without the appropriate security clearances needed to view the full report.

Ms Manfra has said those clearances are being processed now.

Some states said they were waiting for cybersecurity help from the federal government since they lacked certain capabilities within state budgets.

Ms Manfra told The Hill newspaper that though there was no evidence of a threat to the 2018 elections, she would “always be worried about it and it is always something that entities are going to look to influence our democratic processes.”

Investigations in Congress and the FBI are also continuing regarding if there was collusion between Russian officials and US President Donald Trump's campaign team.