A total of 13 experts sent a letter Thursday to members of the State Board of Elections and Secretary of State Government Brad Raffensperger, who is a non-voting member of the board.
The letter urges [dejar de usar inmediatamente las máquinas de votar de la firma Dominion Voting Systems]. He further proposes that they order a specific type of post-election audit of the outcome of all contests on the ballots.
The experts who submitted the letter include academics and former state election officials and are not associated with the efforts of former President Donald Trump or his allies.
These were the machines that were used in the disputed states, including Georgia, during the 2020 presidential elections in which Trump and his supporters claim that there was electoral fraud, following serious security problems in these devices.
Dominion Voting Systems, the company of controversial origin, has been under the scrutiny of prosecutors and lawyers for its serious deficiencies in the cybernetic system they use and links even with the dictatorship in Venezuela. Company officials, of course, deny it.
The intermediate elections will be held in just two months. A switch to manual ballots might easily be done by then, because state law already provides for them to be used as an emergency replacement, the letter argues.
State Board of Elections Chief William Duffey responded in an email that “the security of our election team is of the utmost interest to the State Board of Elections, as is the integrity of the electoral process in Georgia.”
Duffey noted that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and investigators from the secretary of government’s office are reviewing the alleged breach in Coffee County. He added that the FBI was also asked for assistance.
“The investigation is active and ongoing,” Duffey wrote. “The information obtained will be taken into account in evaluating the impact of the conduct on Coffee County.”
Raffensperger’s office has repeatedly said that elections in Georgia remain secure due to the existence of various security mechanisms.
Spokesman Mike Hassinger said in an email that the office will respond “in due time and with due care” and that the response will be “addressed directly to the authors, rather than leaked to the press to gain some sort of rhetorical advantage.” ”.
