Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger seems to be in a jam over a report that uncovered nine “critical vulnerabilities” in Dominion Voting Systems’ machines. According to the Committee for Good Governance “Raffensperger, who is ultimately in charge of election oversight in the state, doesn’t seem concerned.”
The organization – which is not known as a conservative group – goes on to say that Raffensperger issued a statement last week claiming, “It’s more likely that I could win the lottery without buying a ticket,” than someone being able to tamper with his Dominion machines undetected. And, according to the Committee for Good Governance, Raffensperger’s spokesman, Mike Hassinger, went even further, saying: “If the PhDs don’t like being put in the same category as the Pillow salesman, tough noogies. They should stop saying similar things.”
Concerns began to boil recently with the release of the bombshell Halderman Report which pointed out “vulnerabilities in nearly every part of the system.” And technology experts are warning that the state of Georgia’s election results will continue to be viewed with suspicion if Raffensperger refuses to address the grave concerns published in the Halderman report.
“Raffensperger has lumped us with the election deniers,” David Jefferson, a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and an expert on election technology told POLITICO. “But we cannot, out of fear of that confusion, stop talking about these vulnerabilities. They are real, they are there, and they must be addressed.”
Since the report was published, former U.S. Senator and Greater Georgia Chairwoman Kelly Loeffler called on Raffensperger and the State Election Board to take emergency action to fix the long-existing software problem in Georgia’s voting machines ahead of the 2024 election.
Raffensperger has said “Georgia’s election system is secure,” adding that “every single piece of voting equipment across Georgia will undergo security health checks ahead of the 2024 presidential elections, including verification no software has been tampered with.”
Lt. Governor Burt Jones and Josh McKoon, Chairman of the Georgia GOP, have also called for action and answers from the Secretary of State’s office.
According to the Committee for Good Governance, Prof. Alex Halderman himself expressed his disappointment in Raffensperger’s response, calling it “the height of irresponsibility.” Georgia is the only state in the country that mandates the use of Dominion’s ICX system since 2019, instead
of simply having it on hand amongst other methods of voting. Texas refused to use it at all, after it failed security tests, the report said.
The Halderman report also found that a “dishonest election worker…with just brief access to the scanner’s memory card could violate ballot secrecy and determine how individual voters voted.”
