ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. -- The Department of Homeland Security says Russian hackers targeted Florida in the 2016 elections.
The primary election is just weeks away.
As concerns swirled that Russia had meddled in the 2016 election, security is tighter this election.
"Even more than ever before," Vicky Oakes told First Coast News. She is the Supervisor of Elections in St. Johns County.
St. Johns County -- like every Florida county -- received money from the federal government. The state received $19 million and St. Johns County is receiving $120,000 of it. The goal is to protect against cyber attacks.
Oakes plans to use the money "to shore up our defenses against internet attacks on our office network."
Oakes would not go into detail about the defenses, for security reasons. However, she says her team has hardened software and hardware, upgraded the computer system, and done things such as adding seals to equipment which "further secure our voting equipment once it's sent out in the field on election day at our polling places."
"We've made a lot of changes since the 2016 election," she noted.
One overall change for all election offices is a big one.
"The elections designated critical infrastructure through the Department of Homeland Security has brought numerous resources to us that we had never had previously and that includes support from Homeland Security," Oakes said.
That's extra help and extra alerts of any attacks.
"I have 100 percent confidence in our system," Oakes said, "and voters can too and here's why. Most voters don't realize our voting system is not open to the internet. It is a closed system, single server in my office."
And Oakes says -- the parts of the overall system that do touch the internet are getting added layers of security.