Exclusive: Details on Georgias test to use paper ballots in elections

[mfcorey1]

Georgia for the first time in nearly a decade will pilot the use of paper ballots this November in a local municipal election, the first step toward what officials said could be a statewide switch to a new voting system.
Voters in Conyers will use the ballots along with new electronic record, voting and tabulating machines for a Nov. 7 election for mayor and two City Council seats.

If all goes as planned, it’s the first time voters — excluding absentee voters — will have cast ballots on a system with a paper component since 2008. Back then, officials attached paper spools for a local election on some of the state’s existing electronic voting machines but decided the process was too cumbersome to proceed.

It also sets the stage for conversations at the state Capitol about how Georgia can transition away from the aging election system it currently uses. The state last overhauled its system in 2002, at a cost of at least $54 million, when it committed to the now-familiar touch-screen direct-recording electronic voting machines, or DREs, that millions of voters here still use today.

At the same time, it eliminated a paper trail of recorded votes — something election experts now warn against.

“Purchasing a new voting system is no small matter,” said Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, whose office is coordinating the pilot program with Rockdale County election officials. “This is a large investment for Georgia, but voting technology has progressed to the point where I feel comfortable inviting a vendor to demonstrate to Georgians a system that could last us for many years to come.


http://www.myajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/exclusive-details-georgia-test-use-paper-ballots-elections/YyV47c41Q2MmbMcCc5F9OL/

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/rockdale-county/conyers-tests-new-voting-machines-that-include-paper-ballot/624370868

[diva77]

1. They replaced one problem with another. Whether computers are involved with recording the votes or

tabulating them, these new machines do not meet the burden of proof that votes will be counted as cast. This is so utterly corrupt. The media definitely needs to grill the elections officials responsible for certifying and purchasing this equipment.

[stevepal]

2. Exactly!

The point is that the vote needs to be not only verifiable, but VERIFIED.

The vote can be verified in several ways but the simplest, the cheapest, the most thoroughgoing, in fact, the gold standard for all elections is HAND-COUNTED PAPER BALLOTS.

This simple switch over would be the most important step the state of GA or any other state could take to restore democracy to America. The US needs to join Germany and most of the rest of the world in throwing out the computers and counting the vote by hand.

http://history.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.5/no-evoting-germany

[crazycatlady]

8. Hand counting is subject to more error

It is very easy to make a mistake when hand tallying. I manage a team of people who have to hand tally things and virtually everyone makes a mistake.

Then again I'm someone who had every (non essay or math) test I took in school from 6th grade on graded by a machine instead of a human. The scantron sheets were fed in a machine and graded. (I graduated in 1998).

[CottonBear]

3. GA SoS, Brian Kemp (R), refuses to acknowledge Russian hacking of online GA voter files

and he’s currently running for Governor of Georgia as a Republican.

Total conflict of interest.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. Kemp: typical lying cheating Repube sleazebag. Yeah...he'll win.

My state... sigh

[CottonBear]

5. Oh, Kemp KNOWS he will win. He is in charge of the voting machines!

[dalton99a]

7. Bingo.

[CurtEastPoint]

9. He was at the helm when millions of voter data leaked/were stolen. Oops.

[Wounded Bear]

6. It's a start...