The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • A10

THE ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 A10 CREDIBLE. COMPELLING. COMPLETE. FROM PAGE ONE Some voters waited for hours because of a combi- nation of high turnout, poll closures, social distancing, absentee ballot problems and difficulties operating voting equipment. is not too late fordefen- dants to take these reason- able concrete measures to mitigate the real potential harms thatwouldotherwise likely transpire at precinct polling locations grappling with theboilingbrewcreated by the combination of new votingequipment issues and old voter data system defi- Totenbergwrote.

State election officials opposed more paper back- ups, sayingprintoutsof thou- sandsofpagesofdocuments would strain county poll workers trying to run the biggest election in state his- tory during the coronavi- rus health crisis. Turnout is expected to reach 5 mil- lion voters. long-standing processes right before an election almost always has Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said. file a notice of appeal imme- diately to protect the secu- rity of the vote and to pro- tect Georgia elections from activists on disinformation 67-page rul- ing recounts problems that voters have faced in elec- tions since 2018. Somevoters showedupat the polls but listed as registered on check-in computers.

Others found wrong addresses displayed or were told they had to go to another polling place to vote. Poll workers at times offer provisional bal- lots as they should have to voters whose registration information was in doubt. In addition, computer voter registration systems showed that some voters had already cast their bal- lots when they Georgia purchased new voting equipment for this check-in tablets called Poll Pads have caused problems in elec- tions since November, cul- minating in this primary, Totenberg wrote. Some pol ing places opened latebecauseworkers get Poll Padswork- ing. Poll workers at times get Poll Pads topro- gramvoter access cards that activate touchscreens.

Vot- ers reported receiving the wrong ballots because poll- ing places have accu- rate lists ofwhohad already voted. order will go a long way to prevent the long lines that crippled the June primary by giving local county election offi- cials something to use if the electronic Poll Pads, which check in voters, continue to fail, as they have in every recent said Bruce Brown, an attorney for the Coalition for Good Gover- nance, an election security organization. a lot of backup systems, the hope is that never be While paper voter regis- tration lists were already required at precincts before ruling, they contain records of who had already voted in the election. That information is acces- sible on Poll Pads, but if functioning, that could severely slow the vot- ing process. Poll workers would have to issue provi- sionalballots tovoters if their be verified.

A paper list showingwho has voted or requested an absentee ballotwould allow poll workers to continue allowing eligible voters to move through lines, accord- ing ruling.Vot- erswho never requested an absenteeballotwouldbeable to vote immediately; others could cancel their absentee ballots and then vote. waited for hours because of delays and mal- functionswith theoperation of the Poll Pads. In many instancesof suchbottlenecks createdbyoperationalprob- lemswith the Poll Pads, poll workers did not use paper pollbooks as a backup to aid voter check-in and facilitate Totenberg wrote. She ordered the secre- tary of office to cre- ate voter registration lists and absentee voting records after in-person early voting ends the Friday before Elec- tion Day. Then county elec- tionofficeswillberequiredto print out those lists andpro- vide them at each precinct.

ruling is part of an ongoing lawsuit by plaintiffswhoseultimategoal is to replace voting touch- screens with paper ballots filledoutbyhand. rule Monday on that issue. Vote lists continued from A1 Georgia election officials told a federal judge Monday that quickly correct a problem with touchscreen voting computers that left off the names of some of the 21 candidates in a special election for the U.S. Senate. But attorneys suing the state government said alarmed by technical difficulties so close to the time in-person early voting begins on Oct.

12. They want the government to replace the touchscreens with paper ballots out by hand. Software on the plus touchscreens will be replaced to prevent an issue where the second column of U.S. Senate candidates sometimes appear. Those candidates included Republican U.S.

Sen. Kelly Loeffler and Democrats Matt Lieberman, Ed Tarver and Raphael Warnock. Another Republican candidate, U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, affected because his name appeared in the column.

plaintiffs are this as some apocalyptic scenario on social media, and not. This is a very minor Bryan Tyson, an attorney for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. The issue, discovered last week during pre-election equipment testing in Douglas and Richmond counties, occurred when the second column of candidates appear because of a technical problem with how touchscreens communicated with their underlying Android operating system, said Eric Coomer of Dominion Voting Systems. He said the problem only happened rarely, when users made selections in a pattern. David Cross, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said making a critical software change shows that the voting technology is vulnerable to problems.

is far bigger than we originally told U.S. District Judge Amy hard to imagine a more concerning He said the software upgrade is being made without adequate security testing or from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. But Coomer said the change is minor and require Election officials halted testing in the 77 counties where it had begun after they learned about the problem, said Gabriel Sterling, statewide voting system implementation manager. New software will be distributed to county election offices on USB drives, and then be responsible for installing it on touchscreens as part of the testing process.

A company reviewing the new software, Pro could give its approval by Tuesday, Sterling said. The problem with the U.S. Senate race affect absentee ballots, which are already being completed and returned to election officials. Mark Niesse, Mark.Niesse@ajc.com MORE DETAILS STATE: FIX COMING TO GEORGIA TOUCHSCREENS TO RESTORE MISSING SENATE CANDIDATES A judge has ordered paper backups for some information on computers at the polls. ALYSSA ALYSSA.POINTER@AJC.COM Cute.

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