This article by Dave Elias was published on December 12, 2017 by NBC-2.

There are plans now to secure future elections from fraud after Lee and Collier counties were warned that Russia tried to hack the 2016 election.

State leaders want to share their voter data with other states but that has some lawmakers concerned.

The plan to scrub Florida’s voter rolls comes just after the president ordered an investigation into voter fraud.

It calls for Florida to join ERIC, short for Electronic Information Registration Center. A group of 20 states currently share voter information. Their purpose is to eliminate duplicate votes, but not everyone trusts it.

“I want to know that my vote is secure and that it actually affects the election in the right way,” Rose Thomas said.

Thomas fears Russia meddling in Florida elections.

Denise Banco believes the meddling claims are political and not real.

“I don’t really believe Russia hacked into our system,” Banco said.

Lee Election Supervisor Tommy Doyle knows firsthand they tried.

“Russia probably or somebody tried to fear with our voter registration system- but they never really got into our system,” Doyle stated.

He wants to eliminate any type of voter fraud. He supports sharing the state’s voter information data.

“We did find on one occasion in this office that we had persons vote twice through the mail because they were registered in both states. We had no idea,” Doyle said.

He said swapping voter data can prevent that.

“It will eliminate double mail-in votes by people who reside in two states,” Doyle noted.

“That could be a good thing technically for the accountability of votes,” James Andly said.

But it is a concern for state lawmakers like Dane Eagle.

“It’s our private personal information of all the voters in Florida. So I do have concerns sharing that info,” said State Rep. Dane Eagle (R), District 77.

Eagle worries voter data could end up in the wrong hands.

“We have countless stories of big data breaches and that information getting out there,” Eagle said.

Florida lawmakers for years have refused to share its data, although most election supervisors in Florida support it.

There are currently two bills that would have to be approved to make it happen.