ATLANTA – Georgia elections officials defended the state’s elections system Wednesday from sharp criticism leveled by several state Senate Republicans during a committee hearing.
After using touch-screen voting machines since the early 2000s, the General Assembly passed legislation in 2019 providing for a paper backup to electronic ballots.
“The voter can read and verify their choices before that vote is scanned and tabulated,” Charlene McGowan, general counsel to the Georgia secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections in Georgia, told members of the Senate Ethics Committee. “It is safe and secure.”
McGowan went on to outline plans for further changes to the system now in the planning stages, including a software upgrade that will be rolled out as a pilot project in next month’s municipal elections in five counties.
Republican members of the committee expressed alarm that the upgrade won’t be implemented statewide until after next year’s elections. Several cited a report released by University of Michigan computer scientist Alex Halderman last year that identified nine flaws in the Dominion Voting System machines the state currently uses that he said leave the system vulnerable.
“This software is incompatible with Georgia elections,” said Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming. “That’s unacceptable by any standard.”
Blake Evans, director of elections in the secretary of state’s office, said the flaws pointed out in Halderman’s report have been addressed.
“What we have in place mitigated those vulnerabilities and kept our elections secure,” he said.
But Dolezal argued that just because the state can fix the flaws identified in the report doesn’t solve the underlying problem.
“We know everybody has a key to the lock on the front door, and we don’t change the lock because we know we can catch them going out the back,” he said.
Other committee members complained that the QR code Dominion’s voting machines print on every paper ballot lacks transparency.
“My constituents don’t trust these QR codes,” said Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta. “They don’t trust the machines or the scanners.”
Committee Chairman Max Burns, R-Sylvania, asked McGowan and Evans to work with the General Assembly to eliminate the QR code from paper ballots so voters will be certain their votes will be tabulated correctly. A bill Burns introduced in the Senate this year to do just that remains alive for consideration during the 2024 legislative session.
Burns also asked the secretary of state’s office to accelerate the implementation of the software upgrade so it can be in effect in time for next year’s elections.
“We share the same objective,” he told the elections officials. “We want secure and safe elections in Georgia our voters will have confidence in.”