The State House is currently considering SB 403, to replace the current E-voting machines, which are direct recording, with ballot marking devices, allowing for a paper audit trail in Georgia elections by Jan. 01, 2024. On Feb. 28, 2018, the bill passed the State Senate nearly unanimously, in a vote of fifty to one. However, elections integrity organizations including VoterGA, Common Cause Georgia, Verified Voting, the National Election Defense Coalition, Georgians for Verified Voting, and the Georgia Sunshine Project have expressed their opposition to the House version of SB 403 in part because voter protections were ignored.
“It would permit a software created barcode to constitute the official ballot rather than the human readable text printed on the ballot,” Marian Schneider, President of Verified Voting, an organization funded by computer scientists, testified to the House Governmental Affairs subcommittee on Wednesday, March 14, 2018.
“I point this out because a barcode is insecure because it is generated by software. A software-created process can be altered by software. Those software generated items should not control in case of discrepancy,” Schneider said.
Full Article: Legislature Considers New Voter Equipment, but Experts Say Law Needs Fix (UPDATE 1) | Atlanta Progressive News.