By Patrick Webb, LEADING REPORT 24 Nov 2023
U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg has ruled that a lawsuit against Georgia’s use of electronic voting machines must go to a non-jury trial in January.
According to 11 Alive News, the federal judge’s ruling will require Georgia’s secretary of state to defend the state’s utilization of electronic voting prior to the upcoming presidential primary election in the state. The lawsuit questions whether Georgia’s current system of computerized voting is safe or whether it is vulnerable to potential hacking incidents.
According to The Associated Press, Totenberg’s recent 135-page ruling stems from a lawsuit that was originally filed by activists in Georgia who want the state to use paper ballots instead of electronic voting machines.
A lawsuit was filed in 2017 against touchscreen voting machines used by the state for 15 years, later modifying to challenge the state’s 2019 election system, claiming it was vulnerable. The state requested a judge’s ruling against the lawsuit, but federal judge Totenberg ruled that there were “material facts in dispute” that required a trial. A bench trial is scheduled for January 9, and both parties are encouraged to work together to resolve the matter.
“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 stated. “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.”
Critics of Georgia’s electronic voting machines have accused a security breach in Coffee County, where unauthorized individuals allegedly scanned and copied secure voting software, distributing some of the information online.
The breach poses a substantial risk that votes will not be counted as cast. Critics argue that such incidents can result in invalid markings on electronic voting machines. In a ruling requiring Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office to participate in a civil trial, Totenberg stated that the defendants fail to identify a single cybersecurity expert who endorses the current configuration of Georgia’s ballot marking device system.
The court does not have the legal authority to fulfill the plaintiffs’ broadest relief request.
“Even if Plaintiffs prevail on their substantive claims, the Court cannot order the Georgia legislature to pass legislation creating a paper ballot voting system or judicially impose a statewide paper ballot system as injunctive relief in this case,” Totenberg said.
Totenberg suggested that if the plaintiffs win the January trial, they could be ordered by the court or agreed upon by both parties.
Dr. Alex Halderman is a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Center for Computer Security and Society at the University of Michigan. In 2020 he was commissioned to perform a professional analysis of Dominion Voting cybersecurity and cyber-integrity, or lack thereof. In his report he said that Dominion’s machines are compromised. He wanted to warn the US government about the hacks he had found, so that the DHS-CISA (Department of Homeland Security/Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) has the information to do its job. But he was not allowed to give that information to the US Government because he was blocked by a federal judge named Amy Totenberg. Halderman’s report is everywhere on the Internet. In addition there is many other cybersecurity professors who confirmed the findings of Halderman. Now Totenberg changed her attitude, which is good. Maybe…
a non-jury trial, eh? Sounds like another cover-up.