Lessons in Voter Fraud

Last November, a North Carolina Republican candidate was involved in an illegal voting fraud scheme involving more than 1,000 absentee ballots, leaving the state’s congressional delegation still undecided. Americans are questioning the integrity of our voting system as this controversy made its way up the national headlines. However, there is one question that needs to be asked about our local voting system in Georgia: will newer voting machines (and training) reduce the voting “schemes” and create more democratic elections?

Georgia must adopt a new voting system that is both easier and safer than the current one. HB- 316, a bill proposed by state Rep. Barry Fleming, will authorize the $150 million purchase of new digital voting machines and training across all counties in Georgia, and it’s currently being discussed within House Governmental Affairs Committee. The machines will be touch screen (favored by the Republicans) and will print receipts.

On the other hand, Democrats, such as former Gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams, have been urging a hand ballot. Although the machines will be more convenient, she argues that “The bill makes a lot of changes that won’t stop the cycle of suppression and in fact could make it even worse – we’ll still see mass purging and hours-long lines, along with other major problems…” Her point is that it isn’t just the machines that were flawed—the entire system needs to be reassessed. Even if this bill had passed prior to the election, there still would have been tens of thousands of people who were purged from the rolls.

There are certainly benefits to a more technologically-advanced voting system, for which votes can be easily recorded and accessible for the elderly. However, becoming dependent these systems can easily lead to malfunctions, “wiping out” of information, and other difficulties that, as Abrams argues, exacerbate the situation.

Adopting a new voting system is not a partisan issue. Rather than taking sides, we should concentrate our efforts into what will be the most reliable way to ensure our democratic elections. Consequently, as opposed to sticking with solely new technology or entirely traditional paper, we can adopt ways for a digital system that prints out receipts of our ballot. This ballot should not be a simple barcode or reference number, which will not help the voter at all, but a confirmation of exactly who and what they voted for. Such processes would promote positive redundancy and secondary proof in case of voter fraud attempts.

Voter fraud and suppression are not only relevant to North Carolina’s elections. Georgia, too has been a victim of many biased elections, and it is time for us to adopt a new system that prevents voter fraud and suppression. We cannot rush important bills like these that affect all of our future decisions. We need to learn about the aspects of this new bill for us to make a conscious vote, and in order to do so, I encourage you all to contact your local legislators. It will not be enough to simply replace the machines with which we vote. Georgians make their voices count and let their representatives know that they value integrity, especially during elections.