The Cybersecurity 202: Election security is going to be the hot new Democratic campaign issue in 2020

Russian hacking upended Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign. And it's already impacting the way 2020 Democrats are campaigning this time around. Election security is already emerging as a key talking point on the campaign trail as Democrats offer up policies to secure votes from potential tampering and tout their own cybersecurity records -- a sign they think this could be a strong wedge issue against President Trump. Once-wonky security proposals are now applause lines with voters. Take Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif..), who made a shift to paper ballots a key talking point at a breakfast this week in New Hampshire: "Going back to the future, the best and smartest way to conduct voting: paper ballots. Because Russia can’t hack a piece of paper.” The crowd erupted in approval. And Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) made the case for upgrading voting machines at a town hall in New Hampshire this week: Cyber "is the next arena for warfare. We're already seeing it right now," she said. "And just to give you an example, the bill that I had to upgrade our election equipment cost literally -- bipartisan bill -- 3 percent of one aircraft carrier." In fact, all six U.S. senators that threw their hats in the ring for the Democratic nomination have co-sponsored bills aimed at protecting election systems against Russian hackers.