The State of Georgia is planning to spend over $100 million to replace the current electronic voting machines with Dominion Voting System’s Image Cast X electronic ballot marking device (BMD) which accumulates votes that are embedded in bar codes the voter cannot verify. This new system also has a variety of security, auditability and legal issues and was recently rejected for use by the state of Texas.
Georgia law provides that ten or more voters may demand a reexamination of a voting system for the Secretary of State to determine whether it is secure and meets the Election Code (§21-2-379.24). Concerned voters are petitioning Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Georgia election officials to reexamine the proposed system. The Constitution Party of Georgia (CP-GA) has joined other organizations in demanding a diligent, responsible and honest re-examination as to whether the Image Cast X voting system meets the legal requirements according to state law.
Grounds for the challenge to reexamine the August 9, 2019 certification include the following:
- Secretary Raffensberger did not follow Georgia Election Code procedures for certifying the system. The Code requires that the Secretary of State base his certification decision on the report of the designated Georgia Certification Agent who is to compile a report on security testing, functionality testing, and evaluation of compliance with Georgia laws. Portions of the required analysis were not prepared, but Secretary Raffensberger unilaterally certified the BMD based solely on a functional test report.
- Georgia law requires the official ballot to be human readable. The new BMD system prints a barcode on the ballot summary card, and the scanner reads that barcode to generate vote tallies. Humans cannot read barcodes, and cannot know for whom they are voting when choices are embedded in barcodes. The system does not appear to comply with Georgia law requiring human readable ballots for counting.
- Georgia law requires that election results be audited. But the BMD cannot produce auditable results, according to the nation’s top cybersecurity experts and election auditing experts.
- The BMD scanner records timestamps on each electronic ballot which could violate the secret ballot protections of Georgia law. Insiders with knowledge of when a person voted could match a voter with their ballot.
- Secretary Raffensberger did not certify the electronic pollbook component which directly impacts who votes and which ballot the voters receive.
Our party platform calls for verifiable and auditable election processes and procedures. Rushing to spend $107 million on a voting system known to be insecure and faulty flies in the face of the Secretary’s claims to value fiscal conservatism, election security, and the integrity of how the State of Georgia conducts its elections.
If you agree this system should be reexamined, please add your name to this petition that meets the requirements of Georgia law. Include for the petition your name, address as shown on your voter registration. We also ask for your email address or phone to keep you updated on the progress of this effort; these will be redacted prior to the submission of the petition to Secretary Raffensberger.
With a vision of victory,
Ricardo Davis, State Chairman
Constitution Party of Georgia
P.S. Clean elections is an issue for everyone wanting government accountability. Voter ID is a step in the right direction, and election systems that are secure and audible is the next. Please share this post with friends and family who care about clean elections.