Georgia

Georgia: Spaulding County approves counting ballots by hand; change pushed by election skeptics | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Conservative election critics in Georgia are advocating for hand-counting ballots as a response to doubts about Dominion voting machines. The hand-counting movement recently gained approval in Spalding County, with local election boards voting to require manual tallies before results from computer-scanned ballots can be certified. However, election experts and officials point out that manual counts are often less accurate and more time-consuming than machine tabulations, and that election procedures should focus on building voter confidence rather than catering to partisan skepticism. The hand-counting initiative is driven by concerns about hacking, manipulation of computer-printed ballots, and programming errors. Read Article

Georgia prosecutors have messages showing Trump’s team is behind voting system breach | Zachary Cohen and Sara Murray/CNN

Atlanta-area prosecutors investigating attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia have obtained text messages and emails connecting members of Donald Trump's legal team to a voting system breach in Coffee County in early January 2021. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is expected to seek charges against more than a dozen individuals, including those involved in the voting systems breach in Coffee County, as part of a larger criminal probe. The breach is believed to have been a top-down push by Trump's team to access sensitive voting software, and the evidence gathered suggests a concerted effort by Trump allies to find evidence supporting baseless claims of widespread fraud. Read Article

Georgia Grand Jury Likely to Hear Trump Case Next Week | Danny Hakim and Richard Fausset/The New York Times

The district attorney in Atlanta is expected to take the findings from her two-and-a-half-year-long election interference investigation involving Donald J. Trump to a grand jury next week. This Georgia investigation is one of the most expansive legal challenges to the efforts made by Trump and his advisers to contest the 2020 election results. Nearly 20 people are known to have been warned about potential charges as a result of this investigation, which examines Trump's actions and those of his aides and advisers in relation to his loss in the 2020 election. The investigation is expected to result in indictments from a grand jury in early August. Read Article

Georgia: Renewed call for paper ballots flares up at crowded State Election Board meeting | Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder

Several election integrity groups are urging Georgia election officials to replace electronic voting machines with paper ballots before the 2024 presidential election. Critics argue that the current Dominion voting machines are susceptible to hacking, and they point to baseless conspiracy theories claiming widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. A petition filed by the Coalition for Good Governance calls for more stringent inspections of voting equipment and recommended cybersecurity measures to reduce the chance of breaches. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger defends the current system as secure and battle-tested, and he has a four-step plan in place to ensure the accuracy of the 2024 election results. The state election board is expected to reconsider its decision to delay security updates on the voting system until after the 2024 election cycle. Read Article

Georgia election security showdown over Dominion arrives ahead of 2024 | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, is facing pressure from critics, including Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and some Republican state senators, over election security flaws related to Dominion voting machines. A federal judge's unsealed report revealed "critical vulnerabilities" that could potentially alter votes, intensifying concerns about the system's safety ahead of the 2024 election. Raffensperger defends the current equipment, emphasizing the need for thorough testing before any upgrades and implementing additional security precautions like "health checks," logic and accuracy testing, post-election audits, and collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. While Dominion-funded reports claim the hacking risk is remote, cybersecurity experts and nonpartisan activists advocate for more stringent security measures, such as a switch to hand-marked paper ballots and rigorous tracking of memory cards and ballots. Read Article

Georgia investigation finds errors in Fulton County audit of 2020 election | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

During an audit of Georgia's 2020 presidential election in Fulton County, vote counters made several mistakes, including double-counted and misallocated votes, attributed to human error during the manual counting process. The audit did not change the election's outcome, which showed Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump in Georgia by about 12,000 votes. The errors identified by investigators amounted to approximately 3,000 absentee votes counted for Biden. The State Election Board ordered Fulton County to implement new audit procedures and provide adequate training for election staff. Despite the errors, the overall audit count was close to the certified machine results. Read Article

Georgia Supreme Court rejects Trump’s bid to block Georgia election probe | Joseph Ax/Reuters

Georgia's Supreme Court has unanimously rejected former President Donald Trump's attempt to block an investigation into potential illegal interference with the state's 2020 election. The investigation is led by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has been looking into the matter since a recorded phone call in January 2021, where Trump urged Georgia's top election official to find enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's victory. The court's decision comes ahead of a planned formal charges request by prosecutors, and Willis has indicated that she will seek indictments in August from a regular grand jury. Trump denies any wrongdoing and accuses Willis of targeting him for political reasons. Read Article

Georgia elections official downplays cybersecurity threats despite report | Timothy Pratt/The Guardian

Georgia's top election official, Brad Raffensperger, is disregarding a recently released report by J Alex Halderman and Drew Springall, which identifies serious vulnerabilities in Georgia's computerized election system. The report, sealed by the court for two years, found vulnerabilities in almost every part of the system that could potentially allow votes to be changed, potentially affecting election outcomes. Raffensperger, however, is siding with a conflicting report commissioned by Dominion Voting Systems and claiming that the vulnerabilities are unlikely to be exploited. Raffensperger's decision not to address the system's vulnerabilities before the 2024 presidential elections has been criticized as "irresponsible and wrong" by Halderman. The situation has led to a standoff between computer scientists and election deniers, with Raffensperger dismissing the scientists' conclusions as "theoretical and imaginary". The controversy raises concerns about the integrity of Georgia's election system and the potential for election interference. Read Article

Georgia: DOJ questions Secretary of State for Trump election probe | Tamar Hallerman/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Federal prosecutors have interviewed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as part of their examination of former President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Details about the meeting are scarce, but it is known that Raffensperger gained national attention after his phone call with Trump, during which the former president asked him to "find" enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's victory in Georgia. The Justice Department probe has expanded to investigate alleged alternate elector plots in swing states, including Georgia, aimed at favoring Trump. Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has also been interviewed by federal prosecutors in New York City. Read Article

Georgia Secretary of State’s refusal to fix voting machine bugs sets up 2024 election fight | John Sakellariadis/Politico

Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, is facing criticism from cybersecurity experts for his dismissive response to an audit that uncovered vulnerabilities in the state's voting machine software. Raffensperger argues that the concerns are overblown and that no fixes are necessary. However, experts warn that ignoring the documented issues could jeopardize the integrity of the 2024 elections. The audit revealed several easy-to-hack security flaws in Dominion Voting Systems' ImageCastX ballot-marking devices. While Raffensperger maintains that Georgia has effective controls in place, experts argue that addressing the vulnerabilities is crucial to prevent vote tampering or disinformation in future elections. The dispute highlights the ongoing debate over the security of electronic voting systems and the need for transparency and action to address potential vulnerabilities. Read Article

Georgia officials lay out obstacles to updating election system before 2024 | Jeff Amy/Associated Press

Georgia election officials have stated that it will take six to nine months to update the state's voting system with new software and hardware to address security flaws, rejecting calls to complete the updates before the 2024 election cycle. While Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has proposed waiting until 2025, critics argue that delaying the update until after the next presidential election would leave the voting equipment vulnerable to attacks. A group called the Coalition for Good Governance has been suing to eliminate the state's electronic ballot marking system and proposed using hand-marked paper ballots when security breaches occur, but the State Elections Board rejected the proposal. The state plans to pilot the new system during some city elections in November, assuming compatibility issues are resolved. Read Article

Georgia State Election Board votes against taking over Fulton County elections | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Georgia State Election Board unanimously voted against a potential state takeover of elections in Fulton County following the 2020 presidential race. The board acknowledged that Fulton County, known for its Democratic voters, had made significant improvements to its election operations over the past two years. A performance review initiated by Republican state legislators under a voting law passed in 2021 prompted these corrections. While the board decided against replacing Fulton's bipartisan election board, they encouraged the county to continue its progress in preparation for the upcoming 2024 presidential election. The performance review did not find any violations of state laws, and Fulton County officials emphasized their commitment to making election operations more accountable statewide. The performance review had initially revealed disorganization and a lack of urgency in resolving issues in prior years but acknowledged the substantial changes made since 2020. The board also dismissed an allegation regarding illegal ballot scanning at State Farm Arena during the election. Read Article

Critics blast Georgia’s plan to delay software updates on its voting machines | Kate Brumback/Associated Press

Critics of Georgia’s plan to wait until after next year’s presidential election to install a software update to address security flaws on the state’s voting equipment called that irresponsible, saying the machines would be left open to attack. The vulnerabilities in the Dominion Voting Systems equipment were identified by an expert witness in a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Georgia’s election system. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, last year published an advisory based on those findings that urges election officials to take steps to mitigate the risks “as soon as possible.” Read Article

Georgia won’t update vulnerable Dominion software until after 2024 election | Zachary Cohen and Sean Lyngaas/CNN

A recently unsealed report reveals that Georgia election officials have been aware of vulnerabilities in the state's voting software for over two years but have chosen not to update the system until after the 2024 presidential election. The report highlights weaknesses in the Dominion  software, which have been previously confirmed by federal cybersecurity officials who recommended system updates. While Georgia officials argue that the vulnerabilities are unlikely to be exploited, critics warn that delaying security patches until 2025 could give adversaries ample time to prepare and deploy attacks. Dominion Voting Systems updated its software in response to the report's attack scenarios, but Georgia has not implemented the recommended security patch. The report was released as part of a lawsuit by election integrity advocates against the Georgia secretary of state's office. Read Article

Georgia: Judge unseals two election security reports that differ on risk | David Wickert/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Two previously confidential reports on the security of Georgia's election system have been unsealed by a federal judge. The reports, part of an ongoing lawsuit seeking to replace Georgia's Dominion Voting Systems with hand-marked paper ballots, have generated debate about the state's voting system. One report by a computer science professor identified vulnerabilities that could allow hackers to change votes, while the other report concluded that the risk of such acts was remote. The judge unsealed the reports after requests from critics and supporters of the system, and while the vulnerabilities were acknowledged, investigations and recounts have found no evidence of fraud in the 2020 election. The reports detail potential weaknesses in the voting system but also emphasize that the outlined attacks are operationally infeasible and would have a statistically insignificant impact on the outcome of an election. The lawsuit and debate over the voting system continue. Read Article

Georgia: State seizes election server in Treutlen county | Doug Richards/WXIA

State investigators in Georgia have seized an election server in Treutlen County after the county hired Misty Hampton as its election director. Hampton was forced out of her previous position in Coffee County due to allowing a group of Donald Trump associates into the secure area of the election office during the aftermath of the US Capitol attack in 2021. The hiring of Hampton by Treutlen County gave her access to the state's computerized election equipment, which has now been seized by investigators. Read Article

Georgia probe of Trump broadens to activities in other states | Amy Gardner and Josh Dawsey/The Washington Post

An investigation into alleged election interference by former President Donald Trump and his allies in Georgia has expanded to include activities in Washington, D.C., and other states, potentially under Georgia's racketeering laws. Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis has been investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn his 2020 election defeat in Georgia, and she has signaled that she may use Georgia's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statute to allege a far-reaching criminal scheme. The investigation now includes information related to two firms hired by the Trump campaign to find voter fraud nationwide. The investigation is separate from the federal probe led by special counsel Jack Smith, but it covers some of the same ground. Willis's ambitious plans may test the boundaries of the RICO law, which allows for penalties of up to 20 years in prison. The investigation has faced criticism from Republicans, but legal experts believe Willis has a strong case, although proving it in court may be challenging. Read Article

Georgia: Cyber Ninjas CEO’s voting machine activities draw investigation and scrutiny | Chris Anderson/Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Doug Logan, the former CEO of Cyber Ninjas Inc., is at the center of an incident where he gained unauthorized access to a Georgia elections office to examine voting machines as part of an investigation into alleged election fraud in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Logan, along with a colleague, spent several hours inside the office, altering computer settings and scanning thousands of ballots. This incident is part of a larger investigation that may lead to criminal charges. Additionally, financial transactions involving Logan, such as paying off his mortgage and having a Payment Protection Loan forgiven, are highlighted. Connections between Cyber Ninjas, Sidney Powell's nonprofit Defending the Republic, and a separate criminal investigation in Michigan are also mentioned. Read Article

Georgia Prosecutor Rebuts Trump’s Effort to Scuttle Elections Case | Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim/The New York Times

Fani T. Willis, the district attorney in Fulton County, Georgia, has requested a judge to dismiss former President Donald J. Trump's attempt to disqualify her from leading an investigation into whether he and his allies interfered in the 2020 election in the state. In a court filing, Ms. Willis also asked the judge to reject Trump's request to suppress the final report of a special grand jury that examined evidence in the election meddling case. Trump's lawyers accused Willis of bias and claimed the grand jury's work was influenced improperly. The Georgia investigation has the potential to result in Trump's indictment this summer, addressing whether he violated state laws while seeking to overturn President Biden's victory after the election. Read Article

Georgia: Lawyers for GOP chair say he broke no laws as Trump alternate elector | Bill Rankin and Tamar Hallerman/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Attorneys representing Republican electors in Georgia's 2020 election have claimed that their actions were lawful and based on legal advice, in a letter to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. The attorneys argued that the electors' actions were in conformity with legal counsel and lacked criminal intent or liability. They cited a similar scenario in Hawaii after the 1960 presidential election, where alternate electors cast their Electoral College votes, resulting in a judge ruling in favor of the Democrats. The legal exposure of the GOP electors remains uncertain, with some experts suggesting potential charges for violating state laws, while others emphasize the importance of intent in determining criminality. Read Article

Georgia voter check-in devices stolen from DeKalb elections warehouse | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Police are investigating the theft of 19 voter check-in tablets from a DeKalb County warehouse, but Georgia election officials say the crime didn’t put voters’ information at risk. The new devices hadn’t been loaded with any voter data, and they don’t generate ballots or count votes, said Mike Hassinger, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office. The tablets, called PollPads, went missing from a former Sam’s Club store in Stonecrest that the county uses as an equipment warehouse, Hassinger said. An exit door had fresh pry marks where thieves might have gained entry between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. “No other voting equipment appears to have been tampered with or rummaged through,” Hassinger said. “The pads were on top of tables in the large open area of the warehouse.” DeKalb police confirmed Monday that they’re investigating the incident. No arrests have been made yet, nor has the property been recovered, Officer Elise Wells said. Full Article: Georgia voter check-in devices stolen from DeKalb elections warehouse

Georgia: Judge mulls whether voting machine case should go to trial | Kate Brumback/Associated Press

Critics of Georgia’s voting machines say they are unconstitutional and should be scrapped in favor of hand-marked paper ballots. State election officials dismiss their concerns as unfounded and argue that the state’s voting system is safe and secure. The arguments are at the center of a long-running lawsuit challenging the Dominion Voting Systems election equipment that has been used throughout Georgia since 2020. The activists who filed the lawsuit allege that the state’s voting machines produce an unverifiable record of votes and have security vulnerabilities, amounting to an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg held a hearing Tuesday on motions filed by election officials, including Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and members of the State Election Board, asking the judge to rule in their favor based on the facts presented without going to trial. Lawyers for the activists argued there are disagreements on the facts in the case and that the merits of the arguments need to be fully explored at trial. Totenberg had extensive questions for both sides and did not indicate when she would rule. The lawsuit predates a spate of legal challenges to Dominion voting machines filed by allies of then-President Donald Trump in Georgia and elsewhere in the wake of his 2020 election loss. Many of those lawsuits included wild and false conspiracy theories about the machines, while the activists in this case argue their claims are supported by testimony from highly respected experts and concrete evidence that they have amassed. Full Article: Judge mulls whether voting machine case should go to trial | AP News

No consequences so far after Trump supporters copied Georgia election data | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Caught by surveillance video, text messages and emails, overwhelming evidence shows that supporters of then-President Donald Trump copied Georgia’s statewide voting software from an election office in rural Coffee County in early 2021. Yet no one has been charged, the FBI doesn’t appear to be investigating the case, and the GBI investigation has been pending for eight months. So far, everyone involved in the scheme has escaped accountability, including former Trump attorney Sidney Powell, a phony Republican elector who tried to award Georgia’s votes to Trump, and county election officials who helped them take vast amounts of election data. They copied the files on Jan. 7, 2021 — the day after a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol and two days after runoffs in Georgia flipped control of the U.S. Senate. Georgia law enforcement and election officials say they’re taking the case seriously, but little information has been made public while the investigation remains open. Election security experts have warned that the disclosure of the inner workings of Georgia election computers increases the risk of hacks in future elections, and it could be used to fabricate evidence or spread misinformation. “The message the GBI is telling people is that it’s OK to go into Georgia and take our software and nothing is going to happen to you. The same message is coming from the FBI, too,” said Susan Greenhalgh, senior adviser for the advocacy group Free Speech for People. “There’s no publicly available information that would indicate this investigation is being executed with great rigor.” Full Article: Investigation drags long after Coffee County election software breach

Georgia suits among those left involving election lies after Fox settlement | David Wickert/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

This week’s massive settlement of a defamation lawsuit against Fox News is the latest effort to seek accountability for those who spread false tales of election fraud in Georgia and other states. But it’s not the last. Two Fulton County election workers whose lives were upended by false voting fraud accusations have filed defamation lawsuits against other media companies and individuals who spread the claims. And a Gwinnett County man falsely accused of voting fraud has sued the producers of the film “2000 Mules.” It’s far from certain the lawsuits will be successful — the defendants deny any wrongdoing. But the election workers have already had some success in court. And legal experts say the $787.5 million settlement in the Fox case bodes well for continuing efforts to hold people and institutions accountable for lies that undermined confidence in U.S. elections and led to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. “With what appears to be one of the largest defamation settlements in history, we can hope that this is the beginning of accountability and a restoration of respect for our election process and election officials,” said David Becker, founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. Full Article: After Fox settlement, Georgia suits among those left involving election lies

Georgia: Voting equipment and check-in upgrades funded in state budget | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia legislators approved half of the money needed to replace heavy voting equipment across the state, along with additional funding for a quicker voter check-in process and election investigators. The most expensive elections purchase in the state budget was $2 million for new power supply devices that connect to voting machines in precincts across the state. The power supplies will be more portable for poll workers, weighing about 30 pounds each instead of the current equipment that weights 80 pounds. Some of the older power supplies have already stopped working, four years after they were purchased as part of Georgia’s $107 million statewide voting equipment from Dominion Voting Systems. “The uninterrupted power supplies required by our ballot-marking devices are currently at the end of their life cycles, and some have actually begun to fail,” said Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “The $2 million investment made by the Legislature will begin the upgrade process to new units that are more reliable and have a longer life cycle.” Because the General Assembly only appropriated half of the $4 million it would cost to replace power supplies statewide, many precincts will have to wait for new equipment. Legislators could consider that funding next year. Full Article: Voting equipment and check-in upgrades funded in Georgia budget

Georgia: Ban on outside election money passes General Assembly | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A party-line vote in the Georgia Senate gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that would make it a felony for county election offices to receive money from nonprofit organizations following Republican complaints that donations disproportionately benefited Democratic areas. The 32-21 vote on the bill, the most contentious election-related proposal at the Georgia Capitol this year, sends it to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp for his signature. Republicans pushed the bill after DeKalb County received a $2 million grant in January from the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence. The alliance includes the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which was funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who donated more than $400 million to election offices nationwide in 2020. Critics said nonprofit donations that have helped fund government election operations since 2020 overwhelmingly flowed to Democratic-run counties, but supporters of the money said it filled critical election funding shortfalls, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. “Is that fair to have this inequity of private dollars pouring into some counties to make it easy to vote and being stuck with only public dollars in other counties?” state Sen. Ed Setzler, a Republican from Acworth, asked during a debate on the measure, Senate Bill 222. “It should be fair for everybody.” Source: Ban on outside election money passes Georgia General Assembly

Georgia grand jury hears 3rd leaked Trump call | Tamar Hallerman and Bill Rankin/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The bomb-sniffing dog was new. The special grand jurors investigating interference in Georgia’s 2020 elections hadn’t before seen that level of security on the third floor of the Fulton County courthouse where they had been meeting in secret for nearly eight months. Oh, God, I hope it doesn’t find anything, one juror recalled thinking as the German Shepherd inspected the room. “It was unexpected. We were not warned of that,” she said. The reason for the heightened surveillance was the day’s star witness: Michael Flynn, former President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. An election denier who suggested martial law should be imposed to seize voting machines in Georgia and other swing states where Trump lost, Flynn had only agreed to appear after being compelled to by two courts in his home state of Florida. Fulton law enforcement was taking no chances on that unseasonably warm December day, concerned about who might turn up to protect Flynn, a prominent figure among far-right, conspiracy theorist and Christian nationalist groups. Outside, on the courthouse steps, sheriffs’ deputies and marshals carrying automatic weapons kept watch. Full Article: Behind the scenes of Trump grand jury in Georgia; jurors hear 3rd leaked Trump call

Georgia voter registration system upgraded for smoother elections | Mark Niesse/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia’s new, faster voter registration system is now running across the state, an upgrade that election officials said Thursday will ensure security and shorter wait times at polling places. Surrounded by dozens of county election directors at the Georgia Capitol, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said the registration system successfully launched last month, replacing the state’s 10-year-old technology that at times broke down under the heavy load of high turnout. “When people ask us, ‘How do we know who voted? How do we know it’s real? How do we know it’s fair?’ Because we have the receipts we keep on this secure system. That’s how we know,” said Gabriel Sterling, Raffensperger’s chief operating officer. “Don’t let anybody believe there are dead voters voting or there’s double voting in any significant way, because it’s just not true.” The registration system, nicknamed GARViS for the Georgia Registered Voter Information System, stores registration records for Georgia’s 7.9 million voters, verifies voters’ information when they check in and processes absentee ballot information. Full Article: New Georgia voter registration system praised after statewide launch

Georgia Republicans want to make it easier to challenge voters’ eligibility | Jane C. Timm/NBC

Georgia Republicans introduced legislation Tuesday to make it easier to kick voters off the rolls through mass challenges, according to a copy of the bill sent to lawmakers and shared with NBC News by an aide to two of the bill's sponsors. Changes to the challenge rules were proposed to Senate Bill 221 on Tuesday night, part of a committee substitute replacing a previous version of the bill. A draft of proposed legislation was released hours after NBC News exclusively revealed that at least 92,000 voter registrations were challenged in Georgia last year. Amateur fraud hunters largely used voter rolls, public records (including change-of-address data from the U.S. Postal Service) and some door-to-door canvassing in their claims that voters were ineligible. Most of the challenges were rejected, and some counties said broadly that having mail forwarded was not enough evidence to conclude a voter had moved. Some people spend time at other addresses without abandoning residency in the state, advocates and election administrators said. Full Article: Georgia voter eligibility challenges would be easier in new bill