Last month, Voters in Six Georgia Counties Cast Ballots for Local Elections using New Touch-Screen voting Machines that officials have said will Resolve long-standing Questions about the Security of the State’s Election System.
Richard DeMillo, a Professor of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology, said he was Worried as he Visited Polling Places in a County north of Atlanta. DeMillo said Bystanders could Easily see the Screens from 30 feet away, Presenting Serious privacy Concerns.
“They seem to be structurally unable to confront the fact that the voting system in Georgia is at risk,” DeMillo, a Vocal Critic of the Georgia’s Approach to Election Security, said of State Officials.
In some Counties, Elections officials Reported that Programming problems led to Delays in Checking in Voters.
Some Precincts had the Machines Unexpectedly Shut Down and Rebooted.
Georgia is Preparing to Roll-Out 30,000 Machines, in Every Polling Place, for its Presidential Primary in March 202, Replacing a Current Paperless Electronic Voting System that a Federal Judge declared Insecure and Unreliable.
But Election Security Experts said the State’s Newest Voting Machines also remain Vulnerable to Potential Intrusions or Malfunctions, and some view the Paper Records they Produce as Insufficient if a Verified Audit of the Vote is needed.
Georgia has struggled with a String of Election Security Issues in recent years, including Buggy Software, Insecure File Sharing, and an Exposed Voter Registration Database.
Under the New system, Voters Mark their Choices on a Screen and get a Paper Record with a Summary of their Vote and a Computer Generated Barcode. Voters then Feed the Paper Record into a Scanner, which uses the Barcode to Tally the Vote. There is NO way for the Voter to Verify the Barcoded Vote to the Summary. There is NO Paper Ballot to Count for an Audit or Recount.
While the Plaintiffs in the Case say the New Method is still too Insecure, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg said that determination is beyond the Scope of the Case. But her Ruling did require Georgia to have a Contingency Plan if the New Machines aren’t ready in time for 2020. So State Officials said they will be Ready to Switch to Hand-Marked Paper Ballots if necessary but told Local Election Administrators last week that All the Machines would be Ready.
The Judge Expressed Doubts. “The Court has real reason for concern regarding the State’s capacity for effectively handling the mammoth undertaking of starting from scratch and facilitating a rollout of the new voting system” in Time for next year, she wrote. “The past may here be prologue anew,” she added. “It may be ‘like déjà vu all over again.’ ”
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
