Georgia voting flaw raises ballot secrecy concerns weeks before midterm elections – CBS News

Georgia voting flaw raises ballot secrecy concerns weeks before midterm elections  CBS News

Two Republicans on Georgia's state election board Thursday criticized a proposal by their own party to address a flaw in Georgia's voting equipment that can allow voters to be matched to their ballots after they have been cast.The software vulnerability does not allow votes to be changed or cast doubt on election results, but it could let someone see how others voted. That's important because ballot secrecy is a fundamental right under the state constitution and violations could create an opening for legal challenges.A lack of ballot secrecy can also increase the danger of coercion to vote a certain way by family members or employers.Last week, the Georgia Republican Party and Republican National Committee asked the election board to require county election officials to collect and shuffle ballots at polling sites before they are cast.

That would prevent anyone from linking voters to their ballots by determining the time their vote was cast, the two groups said.Janelle King, one of four Republicans on the five-member board, said during a meeting Thursday that such a requirement would impose new burdens on county election officials, including possibly having to hire additional poll workers. She also raised concerns about ballots falling out during the shuffling process and then going uncounted."I just have some major concerns about whether or not we are creating more