FINALLY! Ga. getting new voting machines w/paper trail.

[kadee79]

And they are supposed to be in place in time for the 2020 elections.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Monday that his office is awarding a $107 million contract to election-technology vendor Dominion Voting Systems to replace the state’s voting machines ahead of the 2020 presidential election with new equipment that produces paper records of ballots.

Under the new contract, Georgia will phase out the touchscreen devices it has used for the past 17 years. Those direct-recording electronic machines, also known as DREs, do not produce paper trails, raising concerns about the state’s election security and the ability to audit vote totals. The new Dominion devices feature a touchscreen on which voters make their selections, and print out paper ballots to be tabulated.

In total, the state plans to buy more than 30,000 ballot-marking devices and more than 3,500 optical scanners to count completed ballots. The contract calls for the new equipment to be distributed across Georgia’s 159 counties in time for the state’s presidential primaries next March 24. A handful of counties may have the new machines in place for municipal elections this fall.

statescoop.com/georgia-buys-new-voting-machines-with-paper-trails/

[billisonboard]

I think they purchased the machines from a quality company. link Good deal.

[kadee79]

I'm just thankful that now there could actually be a recount if needed.  Before, all they had were totals for each candidate that printed out on a piece of paper like a cash register receipt....no way in heck to do a recount.

[happyhoix]

Jul 31, 2019 13:28:00 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

I'm just thankful that now there could actually be a recount if needed.  Before, all they had were totals for each candidate that printed out on a piece of paper like a cash register receipt....no way in heck to do a recount.

Yes, we'll finally get a way to double check the vote totals. Before, if the machines got hacked and the votes changed, there was no way to physically go back and verify the votes.

I have to think this is at least partly related to the stink that was raised about the voting hi jinks the current GA governor (who was the guy running the elections, at the time) did to suppress the black votes in some of the counties.

Lot of questionable stuff that happened during that election. I would have loved to be able to see how my vote showed up in the totals. or IF it did.

[kadee79]

Me too HH...

I confronted our head poll judge one time about the machines & how did they think they were accurate.  She didn't say a word, but rolled her eyes in a way as to say she didn't trust them in the least.  And she is the one who guarded the printouts & took them to be tallied at the court house.
I'm pretty sure she didn't want to upset any of the other women judges there...she is younger than the others by quite a bit...say in her late 30's/early 40's while the rest are white haired like me...60's/70's & possibly at least one in her 80's.  She is almost as deaf as me too.

[formerroomate99]

Wow. I had no idea things were so bad in other states.

[steff]

Jul 31, 2019 16:38:47 GMT -5 formerroomate99 said:

Wow. I had no idea things were so bad in other states.

Those of us Georgia have been screaming about this issue on this board for AT LEAST a year.  We've posted articles, talked about the court case, talked about our corrupt former SOS/current Gov'n.  Talked REPEATEDLY about just how unsecured our voting machines are. We've posted links to the court case, links to the corruption of our former SOS/current Gov'n. 

If you didn't know, then you didn't pay attention. 

[djAdvocate]

I am actually astonished this happened in the Deep South.

[haapai]

Forgive me for asking this, but can you actually talk me through how this new system works.  I've got a suspicion that it might be hackable, just harder to hack.  The weakness is that the same machine that records ballots also prints them.  There does not appear to be a mechanism for the voter to compare their elections to the elections that appear on the paper ballot and even if the ballot were spat out for the voter to inspect, would they? 

ETA:  Upon closer reading, I see that the ballots are marked by one machine and inserted into another for counting.  That's more secure, but still a bit hackable.  The ballot-marking machine could be hacked to randomly change a small percentage of ballots one way or another. 

[kadee79]

Jul 31, 2019 16:51:44 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

I am actually astonished this happened in the Deep South.

So was I DJ, but then again...Stacey's group has a lawsuit pending about getting better machines and a current judge has been pondering ruling that Ga. had to supply paper ballots for the 2020 elections to & count them the old way...by hand.
So he is just jumping out ahead of the lawsuits.

I'm anxious to see how some results come out now that maybe these can't be hacked & totals changed.

[kadee79]

Jul 31, 2019 16:54:16 GMT -5 haapai said:

Forgive me for asking this, but can you actually talk me through how this new system works.  I've got a suspicion that it might be hackable, just harder to hack.  The weakness is that the same machine that records ballots also prints them.  There does not appear to be a mechanism for the voter to compare their elections to the elections that appear on the paper ballot and even if the ballot were spat out for the voter to inspect, would they? 

From what I read at one place yesterday...the paper will come out for the voter to inspect prior to the votes being tallied.  I may be wrong, but that was my understanding of what I read...and now I have no idea which article may have contained that info.

[djAdvocate]

Jul 31, 2019 16:56:53 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Jul 31, 2019 16:51:44 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

I am actually astonished this happened in the Deep South.

So was I DJ, but then again...Stacey's group has a lawsuit pending about getting better machines and a current judge has been pondering ruling that Ga. had to supply paper ballots for the 2020 elections to & count them the old way...by hand.
So he is just jumping out ahead of the lawsuits.

I'm anxious to see how some results come out now that maybe these can't be hacked & totals changed.

GA is a notoriously inflexible voting populace.

I doubt it will change much.

BUT- it will validate challenges.

[haapai]

Jul 31, 2019 16:58:57 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Jul 31, 2019 16:54:16 GMT -5 haapai said:

Forgive me for asking this, but can you actually talk me through how this new system works.  I've got a suspicion that it might be hackable, just harder to hack.  The weakness is that the same machine that records ballots also prints them.  There does not appear to be a mechanism for the voter to compare their elections to the elections that appear on the paper ballot and even if the ballot were spat out for the voter to inspect, would they? 

From what I read at one place yesterday...the paper will come out for the voter to inspect prior to the votes being tallied.  I may be wrong, but that was my understanding of what I read...and now I have no idea which article may have contained that info.

Relying on the voter to inspect the machine-generated ballot is weak security.  It also opens up the doors to chaos if voters notice discrepancies. 

ETA:  I'm quite proud of myself for catching that weakness before reading the linked article.  I recommend reading the link in the OP. 

[billisonboard]

Jul 31, 2019 17:06:19 GMT -5 haapai said:

Jul 31, 2019 16:58:57 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

From what I read at one place yesterday...the paper will come out for the voter to inspect prior to the votes being tallied.  I may be wrong, but that was my understanding of what I read...and now I have no idea which article may have contained that info.

Relying on the voter to inspect the machine-generated ballot is weak security.  It also opens up the doors to chaos if voters notice discrepancies. 

ETA:  I'm quite proud of myself for catching that weakness before reading the linked article.  I recommend reading the link in the OP. 

I would love to hear the system that you can develop that does not create the opportunity for corruption.

[haapai]

Jul 31, 2019 18:18:18 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Jul 31, 2019 17:06:19 GMT -5 haapai said:

Relying on the voter to inspect the machine-generated ballot is weak security.  It also opens up the doors to chaos if voters notice discrepancies. 

ETA:  I'm quite proud of myself for catching that weakness before reading the linked article.  I recommend reading the link in the OP. 

I would love to hear the system that you can develop that does not create the opportunity for corruption.

No voting system is entirely free of the possibility of vote-buying or vote-rigging.  OTOH, that is no excuse for adopting a system that contains a systemic weakness that a non-techie can identify within minutes. 

The ballot-marking machines can be hacked.  Changing or not recording votes in down-ballot races is entirely doable.  Proving that it has been done is hard.  Voters that discover discrepancies will tend to be disbelieved and the process (if there is one) or replacing the spoiled ballot would be extremely time-consuming and disruptive. 

The weaknesses in the system are so bloody obvious that I'm tempted to conclude that this system was chosen because those flaws were a feature instead of a bug. 

[happyhoix]

Jul 31, 2019 16:56:53 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

Jul 31, 2019 16:51:44 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

I am actually astonished this happened in the Deep South.

So was I DJ, but then again...Stacey's group has a lawsuit pending about getting better machines and a current judge has been pondering ruling that Ga. had to supply paper ballots for the 2020 elections to & count them the old way...by hand.
So he is just jumping out ahead of the lawsuits.

I'm anxious to see how some results come out now that maybe these can't be hacked & totals changed.

Some of the things the new governor did getting elected to his current position would make most Americans wince. No matter what the party.

Like having his good friend (who also happened to work for GA in the election commission) to go around and close a bunch of polling places in areas that were predominantly black, forcing people in rural areas to travel long distances to one of the few open polling places in the county. Because (wink wink, nudge nudge) the polling places in the black areas were not 'ACA compliant' polling places.  But all the mostly white ones were - what a coincidence.

He knows how bad it looks, so I'm sure he's just trying to fast forward this so they don't start looking too deeply into some of his illegal tactics.

[billisonboard]

Jul 31, 2019 18:33:50 GMT -5 haapai said:

Jul 31, 2019 18:18:18 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

I would love to hear the system that you can develop that does not create the opportunity for corruption.

No voting system is entirely free of the possibility of vote-buying or vote-rigging.  OTOH, that is no excuse for adopting a system that contains a systemic weakness that a non-techie can identify within minutes. 

The ballot-marking machines can be hacked.  Changing or not recording votes in down-ballot races is entirely doable.  Proving that it has been done is hard.  Voters that discover discrepancies will tend to be disbelieved and the process (if there is one) or replacing the spoiled ballot would be extremely time-consuming and disruptive. 

The weaknesses in the system are so bloody obvious that I'm tempted to conclude that this system was chosen because those flaws were a feature instead of a bug. 

A non-techie can identify it but what does it take to take advantage of this "systemic weakness"? Who will have access to the individual machines to do the hacking? What process would have to take place to create the changing of the votes? What are the security measures in place to prevent tampering with machine's programming?

If you give each voter a paper ballot that they mark with a pen and place in a ballot box the contents of that box can be "hacked." Even a non-techie person can identify that within seconds. Hell, even a non-techie person can do that. This system looks like a well developed process done by techie people who appear to be well qualified.

[countrygirl2]

I wish they would do something in Indiana.  May not change the outcome, but make it more secure.

[AgeOfEnlightenmentSCP]

Jul 31, 2019 11:59:05 GMT -5 kadee79 said:

And they are supposed to be in place in time for the 2020 elections.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced Monday that his office is awarding a $107 million contract to election-technology vendor Dominion Voting Systems to replace the state’s voting machines ahead of the 2020 presidential election with new equipment that produces paper records of ballots.

Under the new contract, Georgia will phase out the touchscreen devices it has used for the past 17 years. Those direct-recording electronic machines, also known as DREs, do not produce paper trails, raising concerns about the state’s election security and the ability to audit vote totals. The new Dominion devices feature a touchscreen on which voters make their selections, and print out paper ballots to be tabulated.

In total, the state plans to buy more than 30,000 ballot-marking devices and more than 3,500 optical scanners to count completed ballots. The contract calls for the new equipment to be distributed across Georgia’s 159 counties in time for the state’s presidential primaries next March 24. A handful of counties may have the new machines in place for municipal elections this fall.

statescoop.com/georgia-buys-new-voting-machines-with-paper-trails/

Good

[Tennesseer]

Finally.  An economy of words.

[tallguy]

Aug 1, 2019 6:53:26 GMT -5 Tennesseer said:

Finally.  An economy of words.

I look forward to your next syllable with great eagerness.