VoterGA and the Lawsuit to Reclaim Georgia's Elections

Source: VoterGA homepage, http://www.voterga.org

About VoterGA and the Statewide Lawsuit

On July 13, 2006 a group of Georgia citizens, organized by VoterGA.org, filed suit on behalf of all nine million current and future Georgia voters contending that our current electronic voting method is illegal and unconstitutional according to state law. The charges may seem overstated to an uninformed observer but this overview of the 7 legal counts reveals the unreported detail:

Machine Accuracy – Georgia law requires that electronic voting machines “…record correctly and accurately every vote cast…” at the time they are used. No procedure was ever implemented to ensure that the machines record the votes accurately on election night when they are used.

Recount Ability – State law provides conditions when candidates are entitled to a recount of votes. Georgia E-Voting made recounts impossible because it removed all direct physical evidence of voter intent from our elections. Voter verified ballots were replaced by voter inaccessible electronic records. Only reprints of previous unverifiable results are now possible.

Ballot Requirement – The Georgia Constitution requires all elections to be conducted by ballot. When E-Voting was implemented in 2002, Georgia law was modified to state that elections “shall be conducted by ballot except when voting machines are used…” State law cannot override a Constitutional requirement. Elections must be conducted by ballot, not by electronic record.

People Participation - The Georgia Constitution defines our “method of voting” as “elections by the people”. Currently, the people cannot see the selections on their own ballots, cannot confirm that their ballots were cast and cannot participate in counting the votes to determine election results. All critical functions of “elections by the people” were unconstitutionally removed from the people.

Equal Protection – The Constitution also states: “No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws.” Georgia absentee voters cast votes on standard ballots that can be verified, audited and recounted. Georgia Election Day voters do not have those same privileges and are denied equal protection of the laws stated above.

The lawsuit also claims the audit trail pilot project is unconstitutional and illegal as follows:

Ballot Secrecy – The Constitution requires that elections “must be conducted by secret ballot” so that no one can identify candidates that the voter chose. The newer Diebold pilot project machines roll election results sequentially into a sealed canister. This technique can allow a poll worker or observer who accesses the results to determine precisely what candidates each voter selected.

Machine Accuracy – The newer Diebold pilot machines also cannot meet time of use accuracy requirements because they do not produce individually separated ballots that can be quickly counted and audited once the polls close. The new pilot project law even allows for machine results to be audited AFTER the election results are certified.

The basic relief that the lawsuit will seek could have been implemented in 2002 including:

* Statewide external audit trails for all electronic voting machines;
* A public audit of at least one randomly selected race at the precinct on election night;
* An automatic race recount if similar audit count discrepancies are found across precincts.

Instead, citizens like those in VoterGA who have already spent thousands of hours and dollars on this issue now must file suit to restore voting that can be verified, audited and recounted. As you can see, all seven counts of the suit are very strong. We need to win only one of the first five counts to win the case against current E-voting and just one of the last two counts to win against the pilot project. Georgia needs your immediate help so that we can take appropriate legal action to restore voting that can be verified, audited and recounted. Freedom is not free. Please click the Donation button to contribute or mail your contribution to:

VoterGA P.O. Box 808 Decatur, Ga. 30031

We are a volunteer organization so all money that you give will directly offset the legal expenses of preparing, filing and arguing this suit to preserve the principles of democracy in Georgia. See the Contribute page for information about special gifts for donors. Thank you.

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Also See These Related Articles:

http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/GA_electronic_elections_history_v...

http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/georgia_state_audit_trail_chronology

http://www.electiondefensealliance.org/GA_HB_790_Precinct_Audit

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