The election integrity lawsuit, which entered the
evidence-gathering phase in May, aims to force
Georgia to immediately replace its outdated
electronic touch-screen election technology with
a trustworthy system with auditable paper ballots.
Under a new law signed by Kemp, Georgia plans
to buy a voting system by year’s end that uses
electronic ballot-marking devices. Plaintiffs
reject those devices as inadequate to guarantee
reliable audits and recounts.
Kemp has also been accused of voter suppression.
State election officials are also defendants in a
lawsuit filed by an organization founded by Stacey
Abrams , the Democrat he narrowly defeated last
year. It claims they mismanaged the November
2018 election in ways that deprived minorities
of their right to vote. Malfunctioning voting
machines and long lines in districts with large
minority populations are among problems it
cites. Kemp denies the accusation.
Judge Totenberg has found merit in the
plaintiffs’ arguments that Georgia’s current
touch-screen voting system represents a threat
to democracy, an opinion backed last year by a
distinguished panel of voting security experts.
But she refused last year to order a switch for the
November 2018 election to hand-marked paper
ballots, saying it would be too chaotic.Image: Seth Wenig