The results from Georgia’s sixth district congressional race are odd. Jon Ossoff, the Democratic newcomer who ran against Republican former Secretary of State Karen Handel, won the absentee vote 64% to 36%. That vote was conducted on paper ballots that were mailed in and scanned on optical scanners. Ossoff also won the early voting 51% to 49%. Those results closely mirror recent polls that had him ahead by 1-3 points. In the highest of those polls, he was ahead by 7% with 5% undecided and a 4% margin of error. On Election Day, Handel pulled out a whopping 16 percent lead, for a crushing 58% to 42% division of the day’s votes. That means that all 5% of the undecided voters broke for Handel, the poll was off by its farthest estimate and another 3.5% of Ossoff’s voters switched sides into her camp. All this despite Ossoff’s intensive door-to-door ground offensive that Garland Favorito, who lives in the heart of the sixth district called the “most massive operation” he’s ever seen. Favorito is the founder of VoterGA, a nonpartisan election reform group. He said Handel had signs up, but her canvassing operation didn’t approach Ossoff’s.
… Doug Jones, a computer science professor at the University of Iowa was pleased to hear about the hashing procedure. He said, “This procedure…offers real protection against use of the wrong version…or a corrupted or hacked version of the EMS.” But he added, “I can imagine ways to structure the EMS that would allow it to be corrupted after installation and hash checking.”
In other words—it’s great that you’re doing that and I could break in anyway. That is why computer and security experts all over the country have advocated for the use of paper ballots and audits. Because they know better than anyone that in the cat-and-mouse game of security and hacking, hackers usually have the final word.
Full Article: Many Troubling, Unanswered Questions about Voting Machinery in Georgia House Runoff | Alternet.