The Georgia Board of Elections has voted unanimously that Athens-Clarke County violated state law when it switched to hand-marked paper ballots in the ongoing presidential primary. It ordered them to resume using the state’s new voting machines, pay $2,500 in state administrative costs, and will face a $5,000 per day fine until electronic voting machines are back in place.
The county’s Board of Elections voted last week to stop using the state’s new voting machines over concerns that the 21-inch touchscreens were too big to maintain voter privacy. The decision came two days into early voting in the state’s presidential primary. Part of their argument involves the state law requiring a certain number of voting machines for each registered voter and the challenge of finding space for that number of machines while still protecting voters’ privacy.
The state argued that the hand-marked paper ballot back up option is only meant to be used in emergency situations.
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