Judge rules EVMs will be used in the November Election

On Monday, a federal judge ruled that Georgia municipalities can continue to use electronic voting machines in the November election, despite concerns that the machines are not protected against malicious attacks.

U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg’s ruling means the state won’t have to use paper ballots for this year’s midterm election, including a high-profile gubernatorial contest between the state’s top elections official, Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp, and Democrat Stacey Abrams, a former House minority leader.

Totenberg’s decision came after voting rights advocates, who sought the change to paper ballots, demonstrated “the threat of real harm to their constitutional interests,” but she worried about the “massive scrambling” required for a last-minute change to paper ballots.

She says that she was concerned about voter frustration and disaffection from the voting process if she had prohibited electronic voting machines just weeks before the election.

Georgia is one of five states that relies entirely on electronic voting machines without a verifiable paper backup.

Kemp told WNEG News that Georgia’s electronic voting machines are secure.

He continued by saying quote “We’ve made it very clear that [paper ballots] would be a disaster for this election. That’s something that will throw us into chaos.”

According to officials some Georgia legislators are considering a transition to a paper-based voting system in time for the 2020 presidential election.

They plan to consider bills next year to buy a system that uses either hand-marked paper ballots or touchscreens to fill in a paper ballot.