Sec. of State’s Office launches voting system education campaign
Published 12:45 pm Thursday, December 5, 2019
- Riley Bunch | The Valdosta Daily TimesSecretary of State Brad Raffensperger visits Paulding County to talk about the new voting system that were tested in six Georgia counties.
ATLANTA — The Secretary of State’s office launched a new education campaign to help voters learn the ins and outs of the state’s new voting system.
The newly launched website “Secure the Vote” offers voters details of the new $104 million electronic voting system that uses touchscreen machines that generate a printed ballot.
The online campaign rolled out this week includes a step-by-step instructional video on how to cast a vote from checking in on iPads with poll workers, using the touchscreen to generate a printed ballot and using the scanner to submit the ballot for counting.
When reviewing errors in the Nov. 5 municipal elections pilot testing of the Dominion Voting Systems ballot-marking devices, elections officials attributed nearly all the issues with the state’s new voting system to “human error,” and admitted a need for increased training on machine use for poll-workers and voters.
The website is a first step in familiarizing Georgians with the new system.
“We are fundamentally changing and improving how elections are conducted in Georgia,” Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a press release. “We look forward to educating voters on the advantages and accessibility of the new system.”
However, access to broadband in areas of rural Georgia to access online educational information can be a challenge.
The Secretary of State’s office said that the elections staff has a team of voter education coordinators who are currently being deployed throughout the state — part of their mission is to help voters access training.
Raffensperger is also traveling throughout the state with a goal of hitting each county before the March primary, his office said, for the purpose of hearing from local officials about challenges on their end — like accessing internet training materials.
The rollout of the state’s new $104 million system is being called the largest voting overhaul in the nation’s history — the office rushing to get equipment and procedural training to all of Georgia’s 159 counties ahead of the 2020 presidential primary.
The system has drawn intense criticism both before and after the pilot elections — the machines centered in multiple federal lawsuits. A handful of critics of the machines are also being investigated by the Secretary of State’s office for alleged polling place violations after attempting to observe the new process.
In a new installment of complaints, various groups have made allegations that the system will cost taxpayers $82 million more than originally stated. Their cost analysis includes additional machines, equipment, software, paid staff and training.
The Secretary of State’s office told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the cost estimates are incorrect and reaffirmed the voting system was in budget.
The Secure the Vote program emphasizes the different levels of accuracy — including voters verifying their ballots throughout the process as well as the state’s ability to complete audits of the results.
A risk-limiting audit of Bartow County’s municipal elections on Nov. 5 brought in Secretary of State staff, Barotw Elections officials, and members of Verified Voting and VotingWorks, two nonpartisan national organizations, to complete the audit — which ultimately determined the counts accurate.
After criticism that the audit wasn’t announced early enough to be viewed by the media or public, Raffensperger suggested the State Elections Board set in place a rule publicizing the time and location of post-election audits.