Judge denies paper ballots in Georgia this year but requires them in 2020

[brooklynite]

Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A federal judge ruled Thursday that Georgia voters can cast ballots on “unsecure, unreliable and grossly outdated” electronic voting machines one last time, deciding that it would be too disruptive to switch to paper ballots before this fall’s elections.

U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg wrote that election officials are already working to upgrade the state’s voting system by buying $107 million in new voting equipment that will include paper ballots along with touchscreen voting machines.

But Totenberg said she’s deeply concerned about threats to election security, and she barred the state from using its electronic voting machines after this year’s elections.

She ordered the state to create a backup plan that would provide voters with hand-marked paper ballots in case the state’s new voting system isn’t completely rolled out to all 159 counties in time for the presidential preference primary election on March 24.

Read more: https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/judge-denies-paper-ballots-georgia-this-year-but-requires-them-2020/k3OcClTXuJ058FRfHWBQfO/#

[diva77]

1. Very bad news. This judge doesn't understand that a piece of paper

generated by a touchscreen machine -- i.e. what the Dominion BMDs do, is NOT a legitimate solution. The paper these machines spits out renders a voter's choices NON-VERIFIABLE.

HANDMARKED paper ballots are the ONLY transparent, verifiable and least corruptible way to vote, and the only way in which voter intent can be addressed in the event of a recount.

The voting machine vendors, lobbyists, and election rigging contingency have had their mission accomplished with this judge's decision. It is definitely NOT for democracy.



K&R for exposure

[crazytown]

3. It's better than nothing.

(note my avatar)

[diva77]

5. it really is not better than nothing

with the costs of the ballot marking devices (BMDs) factored in, we're talking about hundreds of millions of dollars (in LA County alone - just as an example) going to devices that are easily rigged and not tested individually. The machines are touchscreens that spit out paper with a bar code; you can't verify a bar code - you don't know how the tabulator is going to interpret what the machine-marked paper has on it. Don't get me started on QR Code, either. For LA County, each BMD costs approx. $11,000 and they have approval to purchase 31,000 of them. Untested devices with software and hardware untested on each machine, with internet capability for the 2020 election -- what could go wrong? GA is going to have similar BMDs.

Why have that when a handmarked paper ballot is the gold standard we want to turn to when doing recounts???

It's all a scam.

[FBaggins]

6. Of course it is

The fact that something better exists does not mean that this isn't a monumental improvement over the current system in GA.

A voter-verifiable paper ballot gets rid of all possible gamesmanship except for something that creates a split in what the voter can read and what the scan code says to the reader. And that's not that big a deal because physical proof of the hack would be sitting in the counting machines. Way too easy to catch for someone to get away with it.

Would I prefer a hand-marked ballot? Sure... but I'm not going to pretend that this isn't better than leaving the existing machines in place. And hand-marked ballots have an inevitable spoilage rate.

[diva77]

7. I agree, it's great news the judge ruled against the DREs; what I

meant was that the situation of nonverifiable voting was not going to be improved by replacing the DREs with BMDs. The paper generated by a BMD does not guarantee that your vote will be counted as cast, but you can't tell because the process is not transparent.

Several links to letters by cybersecurity experts and other info. are posted here:

https://www.coalitionforgoodgovernance.org/election-research-resources/

[turbinetree]

2. This judge hands down rulings on a piece of paper for accuracy and authenticity, why not

fucking ballots....................when she states..................."A federal judge ruled Thursday that Georgia voters can cast ballots on “unsecure, unreliable and grossly outdated” electronic voting machines one last time, deciding that it would be too disruptive to switch to paper ballots before this fall’s elections.".........................I guess ballots don't mean that much.................and yes I am being quite sarcastic ..............................

[FBaggins]

4. Not sure why this isn't just shy of total victory

There are hardly any significant elections in GA this year. Shifting to paper ballots for the 2020 election was the goal.