In a notable display of bipartisan cooperation, both Democratic and Republican leaders in Georgia are calling for a return to hand-marked paper ballots to ensure election integrity. The Morgan County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jeanne Dufort has petitioned the State Election Board (SEB) to adopt a voting system that prioritizes hand-marked ballots.
Dufort’s petition, which will be considered during the SEB’s August 6 meeting, recommends using the Dominion 5.5-A voting system in its standard configuration. This involves voters marking paper ballots by hand, which are then scanned and tabulated.
“The only change is how the ballot is marked,” Dufort stated. “This simple adjustment can provide a clear and verifiable paper trail, ensuring the accuracy of our elections.”
Support for this initiative extends across party lines. Cobb County Republican Chairwoman Salleigh Grubbs has endorsed the return to hand-marked ballots, citing the need to address known security vulnerabilities in the current system. “We have not had the machines updated with the security patches, it was too late to do it, Raffensperger said that. He has chosen not to do the things that needed to be done to secure the election so from that perspective, I support paper ballots,” Grubbs said.
Former Rep. John Barrow (D-GA) has also supported the move, emphasizing that a tangible paper trail is crucial for verifying voter intent. “The current system’s inability to certify that the ballots counted by machine reflect the voters’ choices is a significant issue,” Barrow wrote in a letter to the SEB.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has acknowledged these vulnerabilities but noted that necessary updates cannot be made until after the 2024 elections. The Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) issued a report in 2022 acknowledging “vulnerabilities affecting versions of the Dominion Voting Systems Democracy Suite ImageCast X, which is an in-person voting system used to allow voters to mark their ballot.” CISA continued that the vulnerabilities “present risks that should be mitigated as soon as possible,” but said the agency had “no evidence that these vulnerabilities have been exploited in any elections.”
The push for hand-marked ballots comes in the context of ongoing legal challenges and public concerns over election security. As Georgia’s election officials prepare to make critical decisions about the future of the state’s voting system, the bipartisan support for hand-marked ballots reflects a collective effort to enhance transparency and trust in the electoral process.
