“Protecting the American voting process from outside interference is a top priority this election season. But public and political opinion are divided over the best voting systems to prevent tampering,” PBS reports. “Miles O’Brien takes a look at the latest technology being used in Georgia — and whether it provides a stronger defense against meddling than the traditional paper ballot.”
“There’s a lot more we have to learn about Georgia’s election system,” University of Michigan Professor of Computer Science Alex Halderman says “And that’s going to help inform how to better secure elections, not just in Georgia in November, but across the country for years to come.” Halderman sees a problem with pen-and-paper ballots.
“Still, elections officials tell us they seldom see a hand-marked ballot where they can’t determine voter intent. In 2019, Georgia bought the devices from a Canadian company called Dominion Voting systems,” O’Brien of PBS says.
“They replaced paperless machines like these made by a now defunct company called Diebold Election Systems. A federal judge forced the state to scrap the discredited devices. Election security activist Marilyn Marks was part of the lawsuit that triggered the change. But, for her, ballot-marking devices, now used widely in 14 states, are not the ideal remedy,” according to O’Brien.
Will Georgia’s new voting machines solve election problems
Source:
1. https://www.pbs.org/will-georgias-new-voting-machines-solve-election-problems
1. Four years after the fact, did the Dominion voting machine system in Georgia make things better or worse?
2. Would Georgia have been tied up in four years of litigation had it simply used paper ballots and transparent hand-counting of votes?
3. Which politicians and political interests stand to benefit from the Dominion machines versus paper ballots and hand-counting? Which stand to lose?
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