Several election integrity groups are increasing pressure on Georgia election officials to replace the electronic voting machines the state bought in 2019 with paper ballots in time for the 2024 presidential election.
The majority of the 100 people who gathered in a U.S. Capitol Legislative Committee room on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the state’s election committee, where several dozen people pushed for replacing voting software that some cybersecurity experts say is corrupt a suitable target for hackers have been critics of the Dominion voting system.
At the next State Elections Committee meeting, members are expected to reconsider their decision to support Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s decision plan to defer security updates The system will remain in place after the 2024 election cycle, which polls say could result in a repeat of the 2020 presidential showdown at the top of the list.
Conspiracy theories still circulate in Georgia, unfoundedly claiming that President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory was marred by widespread voter fraud, in part due to vulnerabilities and bugs in the Dominion machines.
A petition filed by the Coalition for Good Governance called on the state elections commission to conduct stricter inspections of voting equipment and follow recommended cybersecurity measures to limit the risk of violations. The petition expands the rule for using paper ballots in emergencies when there is reasonable evidence that the system may have been compromised.
Raffensperger defended the system as such safe and battle tested and that further measures will be taken to protect the system during next year’s election cycle. The state returning officer has spoken out against rushing to update the election software before it has been thoroughly tested.
A large number of those present on Tuesday expressed their solidarity by wearing T-shirts emblazoned with slogans such as “Paper Please” and the logo of a VoterGa, a group dominated by 2020 election denialists who claim that incompetence and misconduct of local poll workers had led to widespread voting fraud involving a large number of characters.
Public comments Tuesday overwhelmingly called for Dominion ballots to be replaced with paper ballots before next year. Frequently referenced was a report by a University of Michigan cybersecurity professor that identified numerous vulnerabilities in Dominion’s system.
Lucia Frazier, a Fulton County resident, commended the board for taking time to consider cases such as how an earlier than announced closure may have impacted early voting.
“They put a lot of emphasis on voting, discussing such small details and putting a lot of emphasis on accessibility for voters,” Frazier said. “But you really miss the big picture. Our votes can easily go uncounted. After all that beautiful accessibility, corrupting our elections is a lot easier with digital data.”
Dominion’s system rolled out statewide in 2019, but by then the state was already in a legal battle with the Coalition for Good Governance and other plaintiffs who argued that handwriting ballot marking was the safest way to vote.
The debate over electronic voting machines versus paper ballots has also been the focus of conspiracy theorists, who have blamed the Dominion’s system for Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden.
Multiple state and federal investigations found no evidence of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election multiple recounts confirmed Biden’s victory in Georgia.
Meanwhile, VoterGa is running an online campaign at Georgiansfortruth.org to encourage people to reach out to local and state officials to support a special session of the Legislature to get rid of the electronic system.
State election officials have defended the security of the voting machine system, in which a large touchscreen can be selected with a list of candidates and ballots are then printed on a paper ballot. An automated scanner then reads a QR code on the ballot that matches the voter’s candidate. Georgians, who doubt the system’s integrity, say the QR code is not as transparent to the voter as an official ballot with written names.
Raffensperger praises a four-step plan to ensure the accuracy of the 2024 election results. The protocols include steps to test all voting machines for accuracy and to randomly test the machines during the three weeks of early voting and on election day to detect ongoing threats.
Additionally, he said the Georgia electoral process was strengthened by revisions to the Republican election law in 2021 and in 2019 when lawmakers allowed the Dominion system to be purchased with its verifiable paper ballots.
“Each step of the Secure the Vote plan mitigates risks and maintains all levels of the electoral process for Georgia voters,” Raffensperger said in a statement last week. “If we give voters the ability to verify their ballots before they cast them, Georgia voters — not activists or attorneys — can choose who to elect to office.”
The cybersecurity report findings also caught the attention of Republican Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones, who met with Raffensperger last week. Jones said he looks forward to hearing from Raffensperger about more proactive measures that could be taken to keep voting systems safe ahead of 2024.
“Protecting the integrity of Georgia’s elections should be a top priority for every elected official in this state,” Jones said last week.
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