Computer experts recommend replacment voting machines

A group of computer and election security experts is urging Georgia election officials to replace the state’s touchscreen voting machines with handmarked paper ballots ahead of the November midterm elections, citing what they say are “serious threats” posed by an apparent breach of voting equipment in one county.

The 13 experts on Thursday sent a letter to the members of the State Election Board and to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who’s a non-voting member of the board. It urges them to immediately stop using the state’s Dominion Voting Systems touchscreen voting machines. It also suggests they mandate a particular type of post-election audit on the outcome of all races on the ballot.

The experts who sent the letter include academics and former state election officials and are not associated with efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The midterm elections are just two months away. A switch to hand-marked paper ballots could easily be made by then because state law already provides for them to be used as an emergency backup, the letter says.

State Election Board Chair William Duffey responded in an email to The Associated Press that the “security of our election equipment is of paramount interest to the State Election Board as is the integrity of the election process in Georgia.” He noted that the alleged breach in Coffee County is being investigated by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and secretary of state’s office investigators and said the FBI has been asked to assist.

“The investigation is active and ongoing,” Duffey wrote. “Information developed will be considered to evaluate the impact of the Coffee County conduct.”

Raffensperger’s office has repeatedly said that Georgia’s elections remain secure because of varied security mechanisms in place. Spokesperson Mike Hassinger said in an email that the office will respond “in due time with due care” and that the response will be “addressed directly to the authors, rather than leaked to the media to obtain some sort of rhetorical advantage.”

The apparent unauthorized copying of election equipment in Coffee County happened in January 2021. It is documented in emails, security camera footage and other records produced in response to subpoenas in a long-running lawsuit that argues Georgia’s voting machines are vulnerable and should be replaced by handmarked paper ballots.

Those records show that a computer forensics team traveled to the rural county about 200 miles southeast of Atlanta on Jan. 7, 2021, to forensically copy voting equipment. Emails show that Sidney Powell and other Trump-allied attorneys were involved in arranging for the visit.

The security video also shows that Doug Logan and Jeff Lenberg, who were involved in broader efforts to cast doubt on the 2020 election results, visited the office later that month.

The experts who sent the letter Thursday have long criticized Georgia’s voting machines, which print a paper ballot that includes a human-readable summary of the voter’s selections and a barcode that is read by a scanner to tally the votes.

A question on Michigan’s November ballot asking voters to put the right to an abortion in the state constitution could have a powerful effect: drawing more leftleaning voters to the polls and boosting Democrats’ power in the battleground state.

A record number of people — over 750,000 — signed petitions to put the measure on the Nov. 8 ballot after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark decision guaranteeing the right to an abortion. Supporters said the decision to do away with Roe v. Wade was a powerful motivation, particularly for women, to get involved in politics — some for the first time.

Now, with a Michigan election board agreeing Friday to place the measure on the ballot, Democrats are hoping that translates into increased support for their candidates in an election in which the party is defending all statewide offices, including governor.

Democrats also are looking to take control of at least one chamber of the Republican-led Legislature in a battleground state that is expected to be pivotal in the 2024 presidential election.

“When we collected signatures for the ballot initiative, we met women who had never voted or signed a ballot initiative petition before but were getting involved because the stakes for women and families are so high,” said Kelly Dillaha, Michigan program director for Red, Wine and Blue, a group that helped put the initiative on the ballot. Those same women, Dillaha said, are now mobilizing their friends, families and communities to vote in November.

A poll taken shortly after the Supreme Court decision found 53% of U.S. adults saying they disapprove of the court overturning Roe v. Wade, while 30% said they approve. The Associated PRESSNORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 60% think Congress should pass a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide.

Democrats have seen reason for optimism in other elections held since the Supreme Court’s ruling. In conservative Kansas,

for example, voters overwhelmingly defeated an abortion measure that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten restrictions or ban the procedure outright.

“I think we saw in Kansas that the ballot measure certainly increased turnout and changed the turnout equation significantly to make it more favorable to folks who favor abortion rights,” said Jessica Post, president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. “And so these Republican candidates have finally kind of gotten what they wanted and what they’ve been working for forever, and they’re ready to face a giant electoral backlash.”

Opponents of abortion say the Michigan initiative goes too far and may affect other laws, such as requiring parental consent for a minor’s abortion, though proponents dispute that. The amendment would affirm the right to make pregnancyrelated decisions without interference, including abortion and other reproductive services such as birth control. It would essentially nullify a dormant 1931 state law that makes it a crime to perform most abortions, a ban that was suspended by a judge last spring.

A judge declared the ban unconstitutional this week, but abortion opponents could appeal that decision.

Abortion foes also contend the calculation in Michigan is different than it was in Kansas. In Kansas, abortion opponents needed a “yes” vote — which is harder to get than a “no” when asking to amend the constitution, said Fred Wszolek, a GOP consultant working to oppose the measure. In Michigan, abortion foes will need a “no” vote.

“I just have to create a little bit of doubt in people’s minds and they’ll generally vote no, whereas you have to sell people pretty hard on a yes vote when you’re trying to amend a constitution,” Wszolek said.

Michigan is among four states, along with California, Kentucky and Vermont, that will have votes in November on abortion access. A fifth, Montana, is voting on a measure that would require abortion providers to give lifesaving treatment to a fetus that is born alive after a botched abortion.

But of those states, Michigan stands alone in national importance when it comes to picking a president. It is the only swing state of the four, and the officials elected during the November midterm would be in office during the 2024 contest.

The Michigan abortion initiative made the ballot after a bit of partisan drama over the quality of the petitions. Although supporters easily cleared the minimum threshold for signatures, Republicans and abortion opponents argued the petitions had improper or no spacing between certain words and were confusing to voters.

A state elections board subsequently deadlocked along party lines on whether the abortion initiative should appear on the ballot, with Republicans voting no and Democrats voting yes.

The 2-2 tie meant the measure wasn’t certified for the ballot.

On Thursday, however, the Michigan Supreme Court ordered the Board of State Canvassers to put the initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot, and the board did just that on Friday.

To be sure, Democrats face some headwinds this election cycle. Historically, the party in power in the White House fares poorly in the president’s first midterm election, and the GOP has criticized President Joe Biden, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other Democrats for their handling of crime and the economy.

GOP strategist John Sellek said the Republican Party will find success in November if the election is about issues such as inflation and children doing poorly in school after the pandemic, rather than abortion. He suggested GOP candidates try to separate the abortion ballot initiative from choosing a candidate for office who has sway over far more issues.

“What (Republicans are) counting on is that the issue of abortion has reached its peak,” Sellek said. “They’re going to attack this initiative as a Trojan horse and try to peel off those people who aren’t comfortable with second-term abortions or eliminating parental consent.”

Democrats already are focusing on abortion rights in the race between Whitmer and her Republican rival, Tudor Dixon, who opposes abortion in all circumstances except to protect the life of the mother. The Democratic Governors Association has repeatedly hit Dixon in advertising, calling her position “too radical” for Michigan.

Dixon appears to be trying to swing the debate elsewhere. In a tweet Thursday following the Michigan Supreme Court decision, she said voters “can vote for Gretchen Whitmer’s abortion agenda & still vote against her.” She then turned to other issues, including crime.

“Gretchen, time to stop hiding behind your BS ads,” Dixon said. “I’m here to clean up your mess, turn our schools around, stop your crime wave, fix the roads, & bring back the jobs you cost us.”

Democratic-aligned groups, meanwhile, are buoyant that the measure will be on the ballot and plan to be out in full force to get out the vote. A group that led the petition effort, Reproductive Freedom for All, said supporters are out organizing statewide. Actions are planned Saturday, including in the Democratic strongholds of Detroit and Ann Arbor.

“We are energized and motivated now more than ever,” RFFA communications director Darci Mcconnell said.