The right to vote is one of the most valuable rights we have as Americans. Voting is the cornerstone of our democratic system and an integral part of what makes our nation great.
This legislative session, and most recently as this past week, our state’s 17-year-old voting system has been the issue of much debate in the Georgia General Assembly. Currently, Georgia is one of only four states in the nation that relies solely on electronic voting machines without a verifiable paper ballot. And regardless of your political affiliation, we can all agree that fair elections are vital to the integrity of our democratic system. We have the responsibility to do all that we can to ensure that ballots can’t be tampered with and elections take place without a cloud of uncertainty. As the nation that is the beacon of hope for all that the democratic process represents, it’s important that we get this right, not only for our citizens, but in the eyes of the watching world.
A few days ago, the Secure, Accessible & Fair Elections (SAFE) Commission recommended a new voting system with touchscreens and printers. The commission brought several voting machines to the floor of the House of Representatives, so we could see the options first-hand and make an informed decision about which option is best. The machine that is recommended is similar to the ones currently in use, in that a voter would touch the screen to cast their vote, but then the machine would print out the voter’s results and the voter could then read over it to make sure they didn’t make a mistake while voting. Once the voter is certain their vote is accurate, they will then feed the paper copy into an optical scanner where the paper copy is stored into a locked bin at the bottom of the voting machine. If the voter made a mistake while voting, they would take the printed copy to the poll worker and be able to re-cast their vote. Once the voter has checked their ballot to make sure it reflects their accurate vote, the printed ballot is fed into a bin that can only be opened by a poll worker and is a permanent, physical record in the event of a re-count.
I served more than 40 years in law enforcement and as a young state trooper, I worked at a poll on election night and saw where there were problems with paper ballots when a person’s name couldn’t be read or a vote wasn’t filled in just right, causing confusion. I’m convinced this is the best solution because of the printed ballot that’s secured within the voting machine.
This new voting machine is being considered in the House under House Bill 316 and the Senate has already passed a similar version of the bill. I’m convinced that a paper record of an electronically cast vote is the best way we can secure our elections. It’s my hope that this bill will pass our legislature and these voting machines will be in place for our elections in November. We must do everything we can to reassure the citizens of Georgia that their vote matters, our elections are safeguarded, and we still have the best democratic system in the world.
Rep. Bill Hitchens is a Republican who represents District 161, which includes Pooler, Port Wentworth and Rincon. He is in his fourth term in the Georgia House of Representatives.