Summary:
In light of potential election fraud concerns after accusations about foreign interference in the presidential election of 2016, voters from both the Republican and Democratic parties have sued the state to overturn the results of its potentially compromised elections, arguing that its results could not be legally certified as the voting system fails to comply with state security testing requirements, even as state officials note how a previous lawsuit regarding the same issue concluded that there was insufficient evidence that the election process had been tampered with and that their system has been significantly improved. Paperless voting has proven itself to be flawed after twelve years of repeated experiments from cybersecurity experts, but other spokespeople such as a previous Secretary of State for Georgia and the executive director for the Center for Election Innovation and Research argue that changing from a paperless voting system to one with paper ballots in time for the upcoming election in October would be exceedingly difficult in such a short timeframe anyways, regardless of what the federal judge rules for. Besides, the cost of printing and extra equipment would burden the counties in Georgia and cause confusion, frustration, and then low voter turnout, they conclude.
Analysis/Opinion:
Considering how the power to conduct elections has traditionally remained with the states and the states only and how vehemently the state officials in Georgia continue to deny and dismiss concerns about possible security flaws in their current voting system, I believe that the ongoing court case is most likely to end in the states' favor. Indisputable evidence of the voting system's security failures still has not been provided even after the first lawsuit about Georgia's election methods failed; only evidence of the voting system's security successes have been mentioned time and time again by Georgia state officials who have overseen such experiments. While the chance of this second lawsuit succeeding is not zero when you consider how negative public opinion about election security has skyrocketed since the revelations about Russian hackers infiltrating the U.S. presidential election have been brought to light, I think President Trump's support for the Secretary of State in Georgia gives the state more backing from the executive branch and thus more influence on the federal court case's outcome. Even if the court case does not pass this time, I believe attempting a third lawsuit at a time when implementing changes might be better for the voters who are suing the state, especially since voter confidence is extremely important in elections and not a minor consideration.
Questions:
Are paper ballots or paperless ones best for state and federal elections? How would you attempt to negate its flaws?
Is a voting system that is completely secure and easy to use possible? What other potential voting methods are there?
Do you think that the federal judge will rule in favor of the state of Georgia or the voters? Why?
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/in-georgia-a-legal-battle-over-electronic-vs-paper-voting/2018/09/16/d655c070-b76f-11e8-94eb-3bd52dfe917b_story.html?utm_term=.8e27472e1989
https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2017/08/24/election-hacking-lawsuit-over-heated-georgia-race-could-sign-whats-come/574313001/
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/05/the-voting-technology-we-really-need-paper/524820/
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/12/646808300/federal-court-asked-to-scrap-georgias-27-000-electronic-voting-machines
1 comment:
Both electronic and paper balloting systems have their flaws. While electronic balloting is astoundingly more efficient and accessible (and thus perhaps incur a higher voter turnout), they pose high upfront costs (i.e installing and maintaining voting machines) and a high risk of voter fraud or hacking -- according to Make Use Of, nearly a third of all electronic devices connected to the internet in the US possess malicious software, which can pose a dangerous threat to the voting system. Paper ballots on the other hand, while less likely to hack, are relatively inefficient and prone to human error. They are also more costly in the long term.
In my opinion, I think that the middle-ground approach is the best option -- if we used paper ballots but sped up the process with, say scanners, we can reduce the probability of human error, reduce labor costs, increase security by having paper backup (link to video below), while having a reasonable amount of efficiency.
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-electronic-voting-works/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_rvSC-PojY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTCmkIxve0c
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