Election integrity activists are raising concerns about Georgia’s new voting machines, saying the large, bright, vertical touchscreens allow other people in the room to see a voter’s selections in violation of ballot secrecy provisions in state law.
In a petition filed Monday in Sumter County Superior Court against the five members of the county election board, the activists ask the court to order the board to have voters use hand-marked paper ballots rather than the touchscreen voting machines. They’ve asked for an emergency hearing.
The need for such an order is urgent, the petition says, because Sumter County is part of a state Senate district in which the runoff for a special election is set for March 3 and early voting in that contest began Monday. A clear violation of voters’ constitutional right to a secret ballot could create “a substantial risk that the results of this special election will be declared null and void,” the petition says.