Federal officials began Friday to contact the 21 states where they say Russian-backed hackers targeted elections systems ahead of last year's presidential election.

Georgia was not one of them.

"Today, I personally spoke to an official from the Department of Homeland Security," Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "They confirmed what I have known for months: Georgia was not targeted or breached by the Russians during the 2016 general election."

That confirmation came amid criticism of the federal agency, which had previously said it had evidence of Russian interference in 21 states prior to the election but did not contact the individual states to say whether they were among those targeted.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation last year had also investigated election security breaches in Arizona and Illinois.

Georgia election officials, meanwhile, have repeatedly sought to assure voters about measures they have taken to minimize those threats.

“We will remain vigilant in our cyber-security efforts to ensure that Georgia has secure, accessible and fair elections,” Kemp said.

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