The question of whether Georgia's electronic voting system has major cybersecurity flaws that amount to a violation of voters' constitutional rights to cast their votes and have those votes accurately counted is set to be decided at trial early next year.
“The Court cannot wave a magic wand in this case to address the varied challenges to our democracy and election system in recent years, including those presented in this case,” she wrote. “But reasonable, timely discussion and compromise in this case, coupled with prompt, informed legislative action, might certainly make a difference that benefits the parties and the public.”
Since the lawsuit was first filed in 2017, Georgia has emerged as a pivotal swing state, putting a national spotlight on its elections. The electronic voting system the state uses, which was purchased from Dominion Voting Systems in 2019 and implemented statewide in 2020, has been the subject of outlandish conspiracy theories.
The lawsuit long predates the swirl of controversy that followed the 2020 election. When it was initially filed in 2017, it targeted the paperless touchscreen voting machines that Georgia had been using for 15 years. It was then amended to challenge the election system the state bought in 2019, with claims that the new system has similar vulnerabilities.
University of Michigan computer scientist J. Alex Halderman, an expert witness for the plaintiffs, examined Dominion voting machines and identified vulnerabilities that he said could be exploited by bad actors. He has said the risks presented by those vulnerabilities were exacerbated when a computer forensics team hired by Trump allies copied data and software from election equipment in rural Coffee County in January 2021 and distributed it to an unknown number of people.
Totenberg stressed in her order that at this stage in the process, where she was considering the state's motion for summary judgment, she was required to look at the facts in a light most favorable to the plaintiffs. At the upcoming trial, the plaintiffs have “a heavy burden to establish a constitutional violation” connected to the voting system, she wrote.