Voting tussles are nothing new for Atlanta

Use of revolutionary Votomatic machines in 1964 ignited furor.

The nation’s eyes are on Georgia voters today, when the results of two U. S. Senate runoffffffffffffs will determine if Democrats gain control of Congress. This year, Georgia is using a new system at the polls combining touchscreen and paper voting. And President Trump and others have criticized the state’s handling of election procedures, fifiling several lawsuits seeking to overturn Georgia’s results. But controversy over the validity of elections here is nothing new.

The fifirst time Atlantans put a new voting process through its paces was in 1964, when Fulton and Dekalb counties became the fifirst in the nation to use computers as a means of tallying votes.

When they were introduced here, the Harris Votomatic Recorders “sparked a controversy which led to two suits seeking to bar their use in Dekalb County,” the Constitution reported Sept. 8, 1964.

“The suits charged t hat t he Votomatic Recorders violated the new Georgia elections code bec ause, t he suits al l e ge, t he machines do not preclude a voter from voting for more candidates than he is entitled to vote for. “Both suits were dismissed.” The Votomatic system of using paper ballot cards punched by a metal st ylus was l auded for “( weighing) less than fifififififive pounds and ( fifitting) into an ordinary brief case,” according to the Constitution. “( The machines) and their collapsible booths can be stored in a much smaller area than large voting machines.” Votomatics were also budget- friendly, costing $ 150 or less ( including a booth) in 1964 while regular voting machines sold for about $ 1,800.

But the once- revolutionary system was scrapped nearly 40 years later when Americans learned about the existence of “hanging chads” — fragments created when holes are punched in paper or cards. Election offifficials handling the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida scrutinized paper ballots not completely punched through, trying to discern a voter’s intent. The resulting controversy spurred Georgia to shift to a paperless system.

“Georgia was the fifirst state in the nation to move to electronic voting machines in 2002, when it was touted as a superior technology,” the AJC’S Mark Niesse wrote in a 2018 report on voting machine security.

By 2019, the state had settled on yet another new voting system, at a cost of $ 107 million.

“Georgia officials awarded a contract for 30,000 new voting machines to Dominion Voting, scrapping the state’s 17- year- old electronic voting equipment and replacing it with touchscreens that print out paper ballots,” Niesse wrote.

Just as questions persist regarding ballot counting with Georgia’s new electronic/ paper voting setup, the early Votomatic system had its issues. Although Fulton County Manager Alan F. Kiepper told the Constitution in a Sept. 17, 1964, follow- up that the machines had been “entirely successful,” he admitted there were hiccups with tabulation.

“T h e s l o w n e s s i n o b t a i n - ing results should be carefully weighed against the abilit y of the Votomatics to speed voting,” Kiepper said.