On Monday, Aug. 19, the Georgia State Election Board (SEB) — which has a majority of Republican members — will have a final opportunity to vote on a proposal to move the state to hand-marked ballots. It’s a proposal that some bipartisan activists say could save the state’s election from high risk and potentially avoid some of the issues that plagued the 2020 election.
Other election integrity activists say the law doesn’t give the SEB the authority to require paper ballots, while it does already allow local election supervisors to adopt them. In addition, the pending Curling v. Raffensperger case could result in the court declaring the state’s election system constitutionally deficient, forcing the key swing state to use hand-marked paper ballots.
Moving to paper ballots is the type of proposal that former President Donald Trump has expressed support for on numerous occasions, including at a recent Atlanta rally in which he said moving to “paper ballots” would be ideal. He reiterated his support for hand-marked ballots during an event on Thursday at his Bedminster golf club, where he said, “We should have one-day voting paper ballots.”
The Federalist inquired with the Trump campaign as to whether the former president supports this particular proposal in a state in which he narrowly lost a race that was fraught with irregularities and miscounts. We did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Georgia voters currently cast their vote on a touchscreen, which then prints out a paper summary that includes a QR code. But the system is vulnerable, according to experts — and it’s a problem that Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been aware of for at least three years.
Since the vulnerabilities have yet to be fixed — and won’t be until after the November election — a group of bipartisan activists have put forward proposals requiring the state to return to hand-marked ballots. As Morgan County Democrat Party Chairwoman Jeanne Dufort previously explained to The Federalist, “the only component that changes is in the voting station. … The voter will be handed a paper ballot and a sharpie and they will mark their ballot before going over to a scanner and everything else will flow in the exact same way it has in elections since we adopted the system.”
Dufort further told The Federalist that “the legislature mandates using the touchscreens to mark ballots only when they can be used safely, and otherwise use hand marked ballots until the unsafe situation is resolved — we want the State Election Board to apply the facts to the law.”
A “comprehensive” version of the proposal, as described by Executive Director of the Coalition for Good Governance Marilyn Marks, was shot down by the board during their Aug. 6 meeting. Members of the board expressed concern that by adopting the proposal, they would be legislating rather than creating rules “within the confines of the law,” as board member Janelle King explained.
Garland Favorito of VoterGa.org told The Federalist the SEB lacks the authority to demand hand-marked paper ballots because state law stipulates superintendents, not the SEB, “may arrange to have the voting for such candidates or offices or for such questions conducted by paper ballots” if the “voting machines” are deemed “wholly or in part…not practicable.” In Georgia election law, “superintendents” means county election boards.
“Superintendents are already authorized to consider anything in determining whether or not an emergency exists,” including paper ballots, Favorito tells The Federalist.
Marks points to a rule that says election superintendents shall have a “sufficient number of blank paper ballots” in the event of an “emergency.” The law also states that if an “emergency situation makes utilizing the electronic ballot markers impossible or impracticable,” then the poll officer shall issue paper ballots to voters instead.
“All we’re doing here is saying, ‘Well, in addition to when the power goes out or the lines are long, if the system has been compromised, or if you cannot otherwise meet the law, then that’s one other condition that you go to [hand-marked ballots],'” she said.
These proposals argue that the SEB should require the state’s backup balloting system (hand-marked paper ballots) to be used to conduct the November election to mitigate the known vulnerabilities in the current touchscreen system.
Since the board rejected the original, “comprehensive” proposal Marks put forward, she has submitted a new, slimmed-down temporary version for consideration during Monday’s meeting. This version, provided to The Federalist, would sunset in July 2026. Marks explained in an email to the SEB ahead of Monday’s vote that the temporary rule “is designed to operate under the long-standing statute for the immediate future when the voting system is impractical or improper to use for a specific reason related to specified conditions.”
Favorito contends, however, that “O.C.G.A. 21-2-334 gives exclusive authority to county election boards and a temporary SEB rule is legally prohibited from operating under that statute.”
Marks further explained the temporary rule is, in part, “in response to the specific vulnerabilities confirmed by CISA.” The temporary rule requires the current touchscreen system be used once again when the vulnerabilities have been “mitigated.”
The president of America First Tea Party, Debbie Dooley, is proposing a similar SEB rule that would require hand-marked ballots, so the board has the opportunity to hear both proposals. A VoterGa analysis (p. 8) notes both the Dooley and Marks proposals also “Require[] pre-printed ballots instead of allowing full Ballot on Demand printing,” which creates more difficulties for election supervisors.
“The Secretary of State has had ample time to install the [security] patches to correct the vulnerability,” Dooley said in a statement to The Federalist. “They chose not to. Too many people feel that their vote doesn’t count. The SEB has the power and duty to have Georgia conduct a fair, accurate and verifiable election with their vote on Monday.”
Dooley’s proposal argues the SEB has the authority to do so, but Favorito and several SEB members disagree. Favorito also said Dooley’s petition does not mandate paper ballots, only asking county election boards to “consider” them. The petition states, in part: “For elections conducted prior to July 1, 2026, superintendents are specifically authorized to consider the June 3, 2022 Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Advisory regarding the Dominion ICX units in determining that an emergency situation exists which merits the use of emergency ballots.”
SEB member Dr. Janice Johnson expressed skepticism during the meeting that SEB has the legal authority to move the state to hand-marked ballots. Should the board vote in favor of either proposal, it would then go to the rulemaking process.
This article has been updated since publication.
