{"id":2319680,"date":"2024-08-05T19:57:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-05T23:57:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-urge-ga-to-use-hand-marked-ballots-echoing-gop-concerns\/"},"modified":"2024-08-05T20:09:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T00:09:03","slug":"dems-urge-ga-to-use-hand-marked-ballots-echoing-gop-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dems-urge-ga-to-use-hand-marked-ballots-echoing-gop-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Dems Urge GA To Use Hand-Marked Ballots, Echoing GOP Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdems-urge-ga-to-use-hand-marked-ballots-echoing-gop-concerns%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2319680&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Local Republicans and Democrats in Georgia are advocating for a \u200dreturn to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-grassroots-groups-can-increase-voter-confidence-in-an-age-of-glitchy-machines\/\" title=\"Empowering Grassroots Efforts to Boost Voter Trust Amid Technology Glitches\">hand-marked ballots<\/a>, highlighting concerns about the need for a reliable paper trail that accurately\u200b reflects voter intent. A petition \u200csubmitted to the State Election Board\u2062 by Morgan County Democratic Party\u200b Chairwoman Jeanne \u200dDufort recommends reintroducing\u200b a voting system utilizing hand-marked \u200dballots,\u200b which would be scanned and tabulated as before while\u200d reserving touchscreen\u200b units for voters needing assistive\u200b technology. Dufort emphasizes that the only change in the process would be how voters mark their ballots, shifting from a touchscreen method\u200b to physical paper ballots.<\/p>\n<p>Currently,\u2063 Georgia uses a ballot-marking device (BMD) system where voters select their choices on\u2063 a touchscreen, which then generates\u200d a printed summary and QR code. This system \u2064was adopted following a ruling that \u200crequired the phasing out of direct-recording electronic machines \u200d(DRE) that did not produce \u200da paper record. However, concerns remain\u2062 about the accuracy of the printed summaries, as demonstrated in cases where votes were misrepresented on printouts.<\/p>\n<p>Both Dufort and former Democratic Rep. John Barrow \u2064have expressed that the \u2063current\u200d machine setup \u2062is prone to vulnerabilities and \u200ccall for the use of paper ballots to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-court-grants-preliminary-injunction-on-parts-of-newly-passed-florida-election-law\/\" title=\"Federal court issues preliminary injunction on portions of recently enacted Florida election law.\">enhance election security<\/a>. Cobb County Republican Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs also supports this move, expressing frustration over unresolved security issues with the voting machines. Georgia Secretary of \u200dState Brad Raffensperger has acknowledged \u200bknown vulnerabilities\u200d but stated\u200b that necessary security updates would only occur after the November 2024\u200c election. The petitioners believe that reverting to hand-marked\u200b ballots could mitigate \u200delection security risks by providing a tangible record of voter intent.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Local Republicans and Democrats alike want to see Georgia election officials return to hand-marked ballots, citing the need for a paper trail that shows a voter&rsquo;s intent.<\/p>\n<p>In a petition submitted to the State Election Board (SEB) for consideration during its Aug. 6 meeting, Morgan County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jeanne Dufort urged the state to use the Dominion 5.5-A version voting system &ldquo;in its <em>standard configuration<\/em> &mdash; hand marked ballots tabulated by precinct and central scanners, reserving the ICX touchscreen units for voters who need assistive technology.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Dufort explained to The Federalist that the paper ballots would still be &ldquo;scanned like normal. The only component that changes is in the voting station. &hellip; The voter will be handed a paper ballot and a sharpie and they will mark their ballot before going over to a scanner and everything else will flow in the exact same way it has in elections since we adopted the system.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The only change is how the ballot is marked,&rdquo; Dufort said.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, voters mark their ballot on a touchscreen before a print-out summary and QR code of their vote is created.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to adopting the current system, the state <a href=\"https:\/\/statescoop.com\/georgia-paper-voting-machines-lawsuit-ruling\/\">used<\/a> a DRE system, which stands for direct-recording electronic machines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We were using a ballot-less system called a DRE system&hellip;where you mark your ballot on a tablet and then there wasn&rsquo;t any physical ballot created, it kind of just went into a black hole on the computer,&rdquo; Dufort told The Federalist. &ldquo;So that was a very bad practice, not having physical evidence of your vote.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Judge Amy Totenberg ruled in <em>Curling v. Raffensperger<\/em> in 2019 the DRE machines must be phased out. The machines did not produce a paper record of votes cast, though Totenberg stopped short of mandating the state revert to hand-marked ballots entirely.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In response, Georgia switched to a system that uses a ballot-marking device (BMD) where voters cast their vote on a touchscreen and then a paper record showing a summary and QR code is printed out and tabulated.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Now that system has been <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/04\/in-georgia-and-elsewhere-officials-sow-distrust-in-elections-by-dismissing-voters-integrity-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">challenged<\/a> in court, in the latest chapter of the same <em>Curling v. Raffensperger<\/em> case. Judge Totenberg heard from the parties in January, but six months later, she has yet to issue a ruling as Election Day approaches.<\/p>\n<p><strong>[READNEXT:[READNEXT:<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/04\/in-georgia-and-elsewhere-officials-sow-distrust-in-elections-by-dismissing-voters-integrity-concerns\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">In Georgia And Elsewhere, Officials Sow Distrust In Elections By Dismissing Voters&rsquo; Integrity Concerns<\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The problem with the current system is that the machine &ldquo;interprets your vote and sends it to a printer,&rdquo; Dufort <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/700878026\/Curling-v-Raffensperger-Transcript-Volume-1\">testif<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/700878026\/Curling-v-Raffensperger-Transcript-Volume-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">i<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/700878026\/Curling-v-Raffensperger-Transcript-Volume-1\">ed<\/a> during January testimony in that case, meaning that the voter&rsquo;s intention can only be inferred by whatever summary and QR code is printed. But printouts don&rsquo;t always get it right. In <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/pennsylvania-election-voting-machines-votes-flipping-1aede0966e0c418b4efbbb36b513acef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Northampton County, Pennsylvania<\/a> in November, voters who voted &ldquo;yes&rdquo; when asked whether two state judges should be retained for another 10-year term had their votes flipped to &ldquo;no&rdquo; on the printouts and vice versa. Voters noticed the discrepancy on the printed summary. Election officials said the issue &mdash; which was estimated to have affected more than 300 machines &mdash; merely caused the wrong vote to appear on the printouts but did not affect the recorded vote.<\/p>\n<p>While Northampton County used different machines, it&rsquo;s the potential for issues like what happened there that have Republicans and Democrats in the Peach State demanding a return to paper ballots so that there is a paper record of a voter&rsquo;s true intentions.<\/p>\n<p>Dufort told The Federalist she wants the State Elections Board to deem the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/federal-judge-rules-google-is-a-monopolist\/\" title=\"Federal Judge Rules Google Is A \u2018Monopolist\u2019\">current system &#038;ldquo<\/a>;infeasible,&rdquo; to avoid a scenario in which the only &ldquo;paper-record&rdquo; of a voter&rsquo;s intention is one the computer makes.&nbsp;<strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Under <a href=\"https:\/\/casetext.com\/statute\/code-of-georgia\/title-21-elections\/chapter-2-elections-and-primaries-generally\/article-8-voting-by-paper-ballot\/section-21-2-281-voting-by-paper-ballot-when-use-of-voting-equipment-impossible-or-impracticable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Georgia law<\/a>, should the &ldquo;use of voting equipment&rdquo; be deemed &ldquo;impossible or impracticable,&rdquo;&nbsp; the state may revert to using hand-marked ballots. Dufort, in an email to the State Election Board, argues the current system is &ldquo;infeasible&rdquo; given &ldquo;known unmitigated vulnerabilities.&rdquo; Switching to hand-marked ballots, according to the petition from Dufort and the Coalition for Good Governance, would mitigate risks to election security by creating a paper trail.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We should never go all in on these touch screens for multiple reasons, but this petition is about risks that came up and got confirmed after the 2020 election,&rdquo; Dufort said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Former Democrat Rep. John Barrow also sent a letter to the SEB on Monday urging the board to revert to hand-marked ballots as well, arguing the current system may not be &ldquo;tamperproof&rdquo; and emphasizing the need for a &ldquo;paper trail.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The inability to certify that the ballots that are counted by machine on Election Day actually reflect the choice of the voter &hellip; is sufficient to require that this Board fulfill its duty to mandate that paper ballots be used,&rdquo; says Barrow&rsquo;s letter, a copy of which was obtained by The Federalist.<\/p>\n<p>The Morgan County GOP did not return The Federalist&rsquo;s request for comment, but Cobb County Republican Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs told The Federalist she supports using paper ballots as well.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have not had the machines updated with the security patches, it was too late to do it, Raffensperger said that. He has chosen not to do the things that needed to be done to secure the election so from that perspective, I support paper ballots,&rdquo; Grubbs said.<\/p>\n<p>Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was informed of vulnerabilities to the current system in July of 2021 but said the state could not make the necessary security changes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/06\/14\/politics\/dominion-voting-georgia-vulnerabilities-2024\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">until after the November 2024 election<\/a>. The Department of Homeland Security&rsquo;s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cisa.gov\/news-events\/ics-advisories\/icsa-22-154-01\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">issued a report<\/a> in 2022 acknowledging &ldquo;vulnerabilities affecting versions of the Dominion Voting Systems Democracy Suite ImageCast X, which is an in-person voting system used to allow voters to mark their ballot.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>CISA continued that the vulnerabilities &ldquo;present risks that should be mitigated as soon as possible,&rdquo; but said the agency had &ldquo;no evidence that these vulnerabilities have been exploited in any elections.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>A group of cybersecurity experts <a href=\"https:\/\/coaltionforgoodgovernance.sharefile.com\/share\/view\/s44dec3c27ada46c2ada04bb74b7e7924\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sent a letter<\/a> to Raffensperger and the SEB in September of 2022 arguing that the state must have a &ldquo;reliable, trustworthy record of each voter&rsquo;s selections.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This provides ground truth of voter intent,&rdquo; the letter states. &ldquo;Having a trustworthy physical record of voter intent allows administrators to check and confirm that the vote tabulation is correct, and to catch and correct any errors that may have occurred &mdash; regardless of their source.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>University of Michigan computer science professor <a href=\"https:\/\/coaltionforgoodgovernance.sharefile.com\/share\/view\/s45bba4420732410ab2db5edb685a50c2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">J. Alex Halderman<\/a>, who served as an expert witness in <em>Curling v. Raffensperger<\/em>, testified that there are vulnerabilities with the current ballot-marking device software. The group of cybersecurity experts referenced Halderman&rsquo;s findings in their letter, writing Halderman discovered that &ldquo;malware could make the BMD print incorrect votes and spread silently to other voting machines and the central election management system in the county.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Both local Republicans and Democrats are advocating for Georgia election officials to revert to hand-marked ballots, emphasizing the importance of having a paper trail that accurately reflects voter intent. In a petition presented to the State Election Board (SEB) during its meeting on August 6, Morgan County Democratic Party Chair Jeanne Dufort called for the implementation of the Dominion 5.5-A voting system in its standard configuration\u2014utilizing hand-marked ballots that are counted by precinct and central scanners, while reserving touchscreen units for voters requiring assistive technology. Dufort explained to The Federalist that with this approach, voters would receive a paper ballot and a sharpie to mark their choices before scanning their completed ballot, maintaining the same process as previous elections.<\/p>\n<p>Currently, voters use touchscreens to select their choices before receiving a printed summary and QR code of their votes. Before this system was adopted, Georgia utilized direct-recording electronic (DRE) machines which did not produce physical ballots; instead, votes were recorded digitally without any tangible evidence. Judge Amy Totenberg ruled in 2019 that these DRE machines must be phased out due to their lack of paper records but did not mandate an exclusive return to hand-marked ballots.<\/p>\n<p>In response to concerns about the current ballot-marking device (BMD) system\u2014which allows voters to cast votes on touchscreens followed by printing out summaries\u2014legal challenges have emerged regarding its reliability. During testimony in January related to ongoing litigation from Curling v. Raffensperger, Dufort highlighted issues with how machine-generated printouts may misrepresent voter intentions.<\/p>\n<p>Recent incidents elsewhere have raised alarms about potential discrepancies between what voters select and what is printed out; for example, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania last November where some votes were flipped on printouts despite being correctly recorded electronically.<\/p>\n<p>Dufort has urged the SEB to declare the current voting system &#8220;infeasible&#8221; due to known vulnerabilities under Georgia law which could allow reverting back to hand-marked ballots if necessary. She argues that switching back would enhance election security by ensuring there is always a physical record of each voter&#8217;s true intentions.<\/p>\n<p>Former Democratic Representative John Barrow also expressed support for returning to hand-marked ballots in his letter urging action from SEB members based on concerns over tampering risks associated with electronic systems lacking reliable verification methods.<\/p>\n<p>Cobb County Republican Chair Salleigh Grubbs echoed these sentiments regarding security lapses within existing machines while Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger acknowledged vulnerabilities identified as early as July 2021 but stated changes couldn&#8217;t be made until after November 2024 elections.<\/p>\n<p>Cybersecurity experts have warned about flaws within BMD software used in Georgia&#8217;s voting systems and emphasized needing trustworthy records reflecting voter selections so errors can be detected and corrected effectively regardless of origin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2319681,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/1280px-Voting_United_States-2-e1722807578762.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[3933,32644,4977,37278,37277],"class_list":["post-2319680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-dems","tag-election-integrity","tag-georgia","tag-gop-concerns","tag-hand-marked-ballots"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/1280px-Voting_United_States-2-e1722807578762.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2319680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2319680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2319681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2319680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2319680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2319680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}