By Illinois Radio Network

BLOOMINGTON – Illinois’ election managers say voter files are secure, but new measures are being put in place to keep social media pages safe from hackers and prevent the spread of misinformation about polling places.

Facebook is a busy place on Election Day. Between ‘I voted’ selfies and the updates from the polling places, people get a sense of the election through social media.

McLean County Clerk Kathy Michael said that’s why hackers may target Facebook, Twitter and the rest – not to change votes, but to manipulate the information about the election.

And that’s why she is planning to stay off Facebook on Election Day.

“That sounds goofy because a lot of media now are spoiled by going to Facebook, because we put a lot out there,” Michael said. “We had some of this happen … in the election of 2016.”

Hackers were able to gain access to the state of Illinois’ voter database through their public web portal. The ISBE said that information was accessed, but nothing was changed.

Michael said local voter files and voting machines are safe from hackers. Local social media pages are not.

“Locally, [the voter file] is not live. We cannot be hacked,” Michael said. “So the only thing that could disturb a voter is if something gets on social media.”

The idea, Michael said, is to make sure hackers can’t use social media to spread false information about closed polls or problems with voting machines.

Michael and other election managers from across the state spent last week getting election hacking training.

In addition to the focus on social media, Michael said she’s looking at other election security ideas, including code words and new phone numbers for poll workers.