On Monday, Aug. 19, the Georgia State Election Board ( SEB )— which has a lot of Republican users— may have a last opportunity to vote on a plan to move the position to hand-marked vote. A group of republican activists claim that this plan may prevent some of the issues that plagued the 2020 election from being highly risky.
Previous President Donald Trump has supported moving to “paper ballots” on many occasions, including at a new Atlanta protest where he claimed it would be best to do so. At a Thursday celebration at his Bedminster sport club, he said,” We may have one-day ballot papers vote.” He reiterated his aid for hand-marked vote.
The Trump campaign and The Federalist spoke to each other about whether the former president backs this special proposal in a state where he just lost a race that was riddled with irregularities and errors. We did not receive a reply at the time of publication.
Georgian voters now cast their ballots on a touch that produces a papers summary with a QR code. However, experts claim that the program is vulnerable, and that Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been aware of this issue for at least three years.
A group of bipartisan activists have proposed changes that would require the state to return to hand-marked ballots because the vulnerabilities have not yet been fixed and wo n’t be until after the November election. The only thing that changes is in the election stop, according to Morgan County Democrat Party Chairwoman Jeanne Dufort, according to The Federalist. The vote may receive a document ballot and a marker, and they will mark their vote before scanning it; everything else will run the same way since the system was implemented in elections.
The government mandates using hand-marked vote until the illegal situation is resolved, according to Dufort, who added that” we want the State Election Board to apply the information to the law only when the facts can be used safely.”
A” complete” version of the plan, as described by Executive Director of the Coalition for Good Governance Marilyn Marks, was shot down by the table during their Aug. 6 meet. Members of the board expressed worry that, by adopting the plan, they may be legislating more than” creating rules within the confines of the law,” as board associate Janelle King explained.
Scars retorted, however, that the plan does not question the SEB to produce new law. Signs rather points to existing state laws, which specifies, in part, that vote supervisors must have” a sufficient amount of plain report ballots” in the event of an “emergency.” Additionally, the law mandates that the poll agent must otherwise issue paper ballots to voters if an “emergency circumstance makes utilizing the electric vote signs impossible or impractical”
” All we’re doing here is saying,’ Well, in addition to when the power goes out or the lines are long, if the system has been compromised, or if you cannot otherwise meet the law, then that’s one other condition that you go to]hand-marked ballots ].'”
These proposals argue that the SEB should require the use of the state’s backup balloting system ( hand-marked paper ballots ) to conduct the November election to address the known flaws in the current touchscreen system.
Since the board rejected the original,” comprehensive” proposal Marks put forward, she has submitted a new, slimmed-down temporary version for consideration during Monday’s meeting. This version, provided to The Federalist, would sunset in July 2026. Prior to Monday’s vote, Marks explained in an email to the SEB that the temporary rule “is intended to operate under the long-standing statute for the immediate future when the voting system is inapplicable or improper to use for a specific reason related to specified conditions.”
Marks added that the temporary rule was developed in part as a response to” specific vulnerabilities that CISA has confirmed.” The current touchscreen system must be used once more when the vulnerabilities have been “mitigated,” according to the temporary rule.
” The last hope for a secure, transparent, verifiable November election rests in the hands of 5 individuals, the State Election Board members, who have the authority and the duty to order the only fail-safe way to vote in Georgia in 2024 — hand marked ballots, counted by scanners/tabulators, with audited outcomes”, Marks said in a statement to The Federalist.
SEB members continue to refuse to act on their own, chanting in unison,” Not my job,” despite the mounting unfecundable cybersecurity evidence that the system is at high risk of manipulation in 2024. They instead seem to rely on the shallow evidence-free platitudes issued by Raffensperger’s office that the election is secure”, Marks continued.
The board has the opportunity to hear both proposals because Debbie Dooley, president of America First Tea Party, is proposing a similar rule that would change the state’s use of hand-marked ballots.
” The Secretary of State has had ample time to install the]security ] patches to correct the vulnerability”, Dooley said in a statement to The Federalist. ” They chose not to. Too many people feel that their vote does n’t count. With their vote on Monday, the SEB has the authority and duty to ensure that Georgia results in fair, accurate, and verified elections.
” They should vote with the interest of the Georgia voters in mind”, Dooley continued.
Dooley also pointed out that SEB member Dr. Janice Johnson made it clear during the previous board hearing that hackers had managed to hack into election equipment in four Georgian counties just this year.
What would happen if hackers attacked on Election Day? Dooley asked. Because you ca n’t hack sharpies and paper, the voters will be able to cast their ballots if hand-marked paper ballots are used.
Despite Johnson’s acknowledgment, however, she expressed skepticism during the meeting that the board has the power to move the state to hand-marked ballots.
The board would then begin the rulemaking procedure if either proposal was chosen.
The fate of the nation might depend on how Georgiafares; it’s only fair that the outcome is determined by legitimate votes. One way to use paper ballots is to use them.
Brianna Lyman is a correspondent for The Federalist on elections. With a degree in international political economy, Brianna received her degree from Fordham University. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
