Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by janrinok on Sunday August 18 2019, @08:09AM   Printer-friendly
from the counting-on-change dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Judge finds several serious flaws with Georgia's current election technology.

Election security advocates scored a major victory on Thursday as a federal judge issued a 153-page ruling ordering Georgia officials to stop using its outdated electronic voting machines by the end of the year. The judge accepted the state's argument that it would be too disruptive to switch to paper ballots for municipal elections being held in November 2019. But she refused to extend that logic into 2020, concluding that the state had plenty of time to phase out its outdated touchscreen machines before then.

The state of Georgia was already planning to phase out its ancient touchscreen electronic voting machines in favor of a new system based on ballot-marking machines. Georgia hopes to have the new machines in place in time for a presidential primary election in March 2020. In principle, that switch should address many of the critics' concerns.

The danger, security advocates said, was that the schedule could slip and Georgia could then fall back on its old, insecure electronic machines in the March primary and possibly in the November 2020 general election as well. The new ruling by Judge Amy Totenberg slams the door shut on that possibility. If Georgia isn't able to switch to its new high-tech system, it will be required to fall back on a low-tech system of paper ballots rather than continue using the insecure and buggy machines it has used for well over a decade.

Alex Halderman, a University of Michigan computer scientist who served as the plaintiffs' star witness in the case, hailed the judge's ruling.

"The court's ruling recognizes that Georgia's voting machines are so insecure, they're unconstitutional," Halderman said in an email to Ars. "That's a huge win for election security that will reverberate across other states that have equally vulnerable systems."

Source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/08/judge-bans-insecure-touchscreen-voting-machines-from-georgia-after-2019/

[Update 20190818_234547 UTC: changed title from "Judge Orders Georgia to Switch to Paper Ballots for 2020 Elections" to be "Judge Bans Insecure Touchscreen Voting Machines from Georgia after 2019". Paper ballots are required only if they fail to implement a new high-tech system in time. --martyb]


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @07:23PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 18 2019, @07:23PM (#881840)

    If you never cast a ballot, then no one is going to run on getting your vote. Who casts ballots is public information and is definitely used to decide the platforms of the people who run for office (including making the decision of whether running for office is worth the trouble). Of course, you can cast a blank ballot, but if you cast no ballot at all, don't be surprised that no one is campaigning for your vote.