Amid lingering questions over the impact of Russian-backed hackers in the last presidential election, federal investigators now say they will examine equipment used to check Durham County voters into the polls back in 2016 for evidence of interference.

Issues in 2016 with the county's electronic poll book software – at the time provided by VR Systems – caused delays that prompted the State Board of Elections to extend the voting period and order Durham election workers to switch to paper poll books. None of the issues affected the separate systems the county used to tally votes.

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Almost three years later, U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Sara Sendek said Wednesday that the agency will analyze the laptops used in the 2016 Durham County elections as part of DHS' partnership with North Carolina officials.

"This support may help to provide a better understanding of previous issues and help to secure the 2020 election," Sendek said. "DHS has no information that there is any previous or ongoing issues regarding election systems in the state of North Carolina, and all services are being provided in a proactive manner at the request of the state."

Karen Brinson Bell, who took office Monday as executive director of the State Board of Elections, said in a statement her agency will continue to work with DHS and county election boards to ensure voter confidence in elections.

"We appreciate the Department of Homeland Security’s willingness to make this a priority so the lingering questions from 2016 can be addressed in advance of 2020," Brinson Bell said.

The forensic examination was first reported Wednesday by The Washington Post.

Although state elections investigators believe user error by Durham County poll workers was the likely cause of the issues in 2016, a report from the third party firm hired to investigate was inconclusive. Because the State Board of Elections didn't have the expertise to conduct a forensic examination on the laptops they collected and saved from Durham County, they asked DHS to help.

That request, says former State Board of Elections General Counsel Josh Lawson, came about a year and a half ago.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report on Russian interference in the election, which was released in April, reignited many of the unanswered questions over just what happened in Durham County in 2016.

The report details an August 2016 attack on an unnamed "voting technology company" by Russia's military intelligence agency, which the report says installed malware on the company network. The name of the company is redacted, but it's described in the report as the creator of software "used by numerous U.S. counties to manage voter rolls."

Mueller's findings, coupled with a separate 2017 federal indictment of Russian agents and an intelligence report leaked to The Intercept, prompted Lawson in April to write to VR Systems demanding "immediate, written assurance" about the security of its products.

VR Systems responded a few days later, disputing "misleading insinuations" by state elections officials.

Michael Weisel, a Raleigh-based attorney representing VR Systems, wrote back to Lawson saying the company's EViD electronic poll book software had never been hacked, adding that the company "has no independent knowledge and is unable to confirm or deny" whether it is the company referenced in the Mueller Report.

Company officials told the Post, however, they think they're the company referenced in the Mueller report.

Neither Weisel nor officials with VR Systems have responded to WRAL News' requests for comment Wednesday morning.

In response to questions during scheduled testimony before the N.C. House and Elections Law Committee Wednesday afternoon, current State Board of Elections General Counsel Katelyn Love acknowledged that the DHS forensic examination of the 21 laptops is part of the board's open investigation into Durham's 2016 elections process.

"We do not feel like there was any criminal activity with regard to that," Brinson Bell told the committee, adding that she hoped the DHS analysis would detail best practices to improve the voting process moving forward.

Brinson Bell said it would be "premature to say" whether the elections board will cut ties with VR Systems, which supplies its software to more than a dozen counties. When elections officials tried to revoke the company's certification in 2017, VR Systems successfully fought the action in court.

"We are in the process of reviewing our e-pollbook procedures, and that’s going to be a matter of ongoing focus," Brinson Bell told reporters after the committee meeting Wednesday.

Most counties have stuck with paper pollbooks or opt to use the state's own electronic pollbook software. That group now includes Durham, which switched from VR Systems to the state's software in 2017.

Bill Brian, who in 2016 served as chair of the Durham County Board of Elections, said Wednesday that he never saw any evidence to suggest foreign interference was responsible for issues in the county. Nor was he contacted by federal officials about the matter.

"The one thing we never spent any time worrying about was penetration by the Russians," Brian said.

He added, however, that the county board was not investigatory in nature.

"We only know what we know," Brian said.

Derek Bowens, hired as the county's elections director in April 2017, said Wednesday afternoon that his office still thinks "internal administrator error" was the cause of the problems in Durham.

"We're willing to do whatever we need to do, but we continue to believe the events of 2016, based on the evidence we have, was not the result of election interference in Durham County," Bowens said.

Reached by phone Wednesday, Lawson emphasized that it's possible what happened in Durham has nothing to do with the Mueller report or any potential security breaches of election software in other places.

"It's very unlikely, but it's possible," Lawson, who left his role as State Board of Elections general counsel last week, said.

But even if user error was to blame in Durham County, he said, it's important North Carolina elections officials know for sure before their next big test – when intelligence officials expect Russian hackers will attempt to interfere again.

"The training wheels are off now," Lawson said. "We have to get it right in 2020."