Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh boosted her advantage over opponent Will Ainsworth in fundraising last week as the campaign for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor entered its final two weeks.

Cavanaugh, president of the Alabama Public Service Commission, took in $185,500 during the period of June 23 to June 29, compared to $18,500 for Ainsworth, a state representative from Guntersville, according to financial disclosure reports the two filed this week with the Secretary of State’s Office. Cavanaugh reported spending $173,744 during the reporting period, and Ainsworth spent $288,317.

The latest reports boosted Cavanaugh’s monetary contributions to $1.84 million since the campaign began last year. She reported spending $1.58 million and a balance of $258,738.

Ainsworth has raised $1.16 million so far. He has spent $1.95 million and has a cash balance of $204,565.
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Troy King and Steve Marshall, who are locked in a heated campaign for the Republican nomination for state attorney general, raised a total of more than half a million dollars during the first three weeks of June, according to reports filed Monday with the Secretary of State’s Office. Read more.

Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh has far outpaced opponent Will Ainsworth in fundraising for the Republican runoff for lieutenant governor so far this month, according to reports filed Monday with the Secretary of State’s Office. Read more.

After instituting cybersecurity measures to protect the state’s voting system, the secretary of state said there were no attempts to hack into or otherwise tamper with Alabama’s June 5 primary elections.

In fact, despite worries about cybersecurity and implementation of e-poll books and on-line registration for voters, election officials said the voting came off with no major glitches.

The state’s top voting official, Secretary of State John Merrill, said there have been no attempts to hack into the state electoral system since 2017. Alabama was one of 21 states notified by the Department of Homeland Security last year that hackers had attempted to infiltrate and manipulate the electoral system. Suspicious IP addresses and the attempted scanning of voting records were noticed, and the hacking attempts were blocked for the most part. The hackers were successful in only one state, Illinois.

Some election observers have said the hackers can be traced back to Russia, but DHS did not identify their whereabouts. Concerns about future cyberattacks have persisted nationwide.

Merrill said that, since Jan. 19, 2017, his staff and all voter registrars statewide have been trained in cybersecurity, and the training continues.

“It is our position that all people with access to voter information be trained and equipped to function in the ‘new normal,’” Merrill said. Read more.