ORLANDO, Fla. — As voters head to the polls Tuesday, supervisors of elections across Central Florida want to make sure you know your votes are safe.
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- One election official says: 'Nobody can hack the machine'
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It comes amid concerns about potential hacking into the state's election system.
"We're an inviting target now and in the future," said U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida).
Both Rubio and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Florida) have warned Russian hackers are looking to infiltrate the state's voting system.
However, despite the warnings, supervisors of elections across the state say there's no need to worry this primary day.
"Nobody can hack the machine," said Orange County Supervisor of Elections Bill Cowles.
Cowles told Spectrum News 13 that paper ballots are still used to ensure a vote is permanent. If there is an issue with the optical scanner, the paper ballot can be used to make sure the results are accurate.
In addition, Cowles says the tabulation machines are never connected to the internet to protect from potential hacking.
"We've seen nothing out of the ordinary so far this year, 2017 or 2016, however it doesn't mean that we're not continuingly checking," said Michael Ertel, the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections.
In fact, election supervisors are using money from the government to bolster their security measures. The state doled out $19 million to improve election security.
"We're backing up our systems multiple times in multiple ways," said Cowles.
Orange County is using more than $400,000 to upgrade system software, physical security and security audits.
Seminole County got more than 300,000 dollars.
"We're doing things like installing new services to build what we call the cyber-moat around our elections office," said Ertel.