Strict registration, not tech, is key to honest elections
The notion of returning to paper election ballots as the end-all method of securing our elections is nonsense (“Georgia moves to replace voting machines,” Metro, Aug 10). Any machine designed and built to process voter input can be corrupted. Securing the integrity of our elections begins with maintaining accurate, current voter registration rolls. The registration roll used in the recent congressional election in Ohio lists 170 voters over the age of 116! Amazing, since the oldest human in the world today is a 115-year-old Japanese woman. Seventy-two voters over the age of 116 in this Ohio congressional district voted in the 2016 election. Conducting honest elections is not rocket science. Maintaining proper registration rolls, verifying with photo IDs, and auditing absentee and provisional ballots goes a lot farther in executing honest elections than spending $30 million to $150 million dollars on new fancy voting machines.
P.D. GOSSAGE, JOHNS CREEK
Use paper ballots in Ga. this fall to reduce hacking risk
Time after time, we have found that our election machines can be hacked and are vulnerable. Our voting machines are running on old and outdated Windows systems that are no longer supported. Kennesaw State University exposed voter data and had prolonged security gaps. And Russian hackers have already looked at vulnerabilities in at least two of our counties. Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who was the only state election official to refuse security assistance from the Department of Homeland Security prior to the 2016 election, has refused once again to do anything to protect our vote. Fortunately, there is something we can do now. Georgia already has a system of paper ballots that can be scanned with optical scanners. Our local county Board of Elections has the authority to move to a paper ballot system by November. It is up to us, as concerned citizens, to contact our local boards of election and county commissioners to insist on paper ballots in November.
DEEDEE MURPHY, ATLANTA
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