A group of activists in Georgia has gone to court with a simple request to election officials: in the name of election security, do away with electronic voting entirely and let the more-than 6.1 million voters in the upcoming November 2018 election cast ballots entirely by paper. Georgia is just one of five American states that use purely digital voting without any paper record. As part of this ongoing federal lawsuit, known as Curling v. Kemp, Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office says that such a change would be “reckless” with the election less than 60 days away. Plus, modifying the voting process would be too expensive, too unwieldy, and, in the end, not worth it. “Plaintiffs raise only spectral fears that [Direct Recording Electronic machines] will be hacked and votes Miscounted,” John Salter, an attorney representing the state, wrote in a recent court filing.
“A theoretical possibility that a voting machine somewhere might be susceptible to tampering is outweighed by the State’s legitimate interest in protecting its elections from the mad scramble that would certainly ensue if the Plaintiffs’ motions were granted.”
So at 10am ET Wednesday, in a federal courtroom in Atlanta, lawyers from both sides are set to argue before US District Judge Amy Totenberg.
Full Article: Georgia says switching back to all-paper voting is logistically impossible | Ars Technica.