After Tuesday’s primary elections resulted in long lines and confusion, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has decided to launch a full investigation. These elections were a test to Georgia’s new voting system which was bought by the state last year after a federal ruling requiring Georgia to phase out paperless voting machines.
What We Know:
- The machines are a part of a multimillion-dollar contract with Dominion Voting Systems. The machines were the center of the issues people faced during Tuesday night’s voting. Raffensperger says, “The voting situation today in certain precincts in Fulton and Dekalb counties is unacceptable. My office has opened an investigation to determine what these counties need to do to resolve these issues before November’s election.” He says that every issue is a learning curve, but other counties faced the same issue and were better prepared so that everyone received the opportunity to vote.
- The vice president of government affairs at Dominion, Kay Stimson says there is a “command center” in Georgia to help with any issues. She says they had nine tickets opened for issues and they have since closed out 44 tickets during voting on Tuesday.
- Most of the issues came from Fulton County, which houses most of central Atlanta. Mayor Keisha Bottoms issued a tweet saying that none of the machines in the precinct were working. One of the issues in Fulton County were from the “poll pads” to check voters in and this stemmed from the changing conditions of COVID-19.
@FultonInfo, voters in line at Ralph Bunche precinct, one of the largest in Atlanta, say NONE of the machines are working. Please address this ASAP. @marvinarrington @NatalieWHall @ChairRobbPitts
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) June 9, 2020
Now being told line is out to the street at Sandtown Recreation Center and their machines are not working either @gasecofstate. Is this happening across the county or just on the south end? https://t.co/szO7srzpWs
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) June 9, 2020
Let’s all work, hope and pray that this not be a preview of November. https://t.co/C0hwqCtJ4v
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) June 9, 2020
- Sen. Ron Wyden addressed the chaos and called it voter suppression. He urges Republicans to vote towards mail-in voting.
Voters in Georgia are facing outrageous voter suppression resulting from years of election system sabotage by Republican lawmakers. If Republicans actually wanted you to vote, they would support #VoteByMail and hand-marked #PaperBallots. https://t.co/L6WFHKUlne
— Ron Wyden (@RonWyden) June 9, 2020
Officials in Georgia are facing criticism for not being prepared for Tuesday’s election. Georgia’s Republican Party blames the Democratic Fulton County officials, stating they were “woefully unprepared” for the chaos that emerged during these elections.
