Georgia Republican lawmakers perpetuate doubts concerning Dominion voting machines from the 2020 election.
In a repeat of 2020 tactics, Republicans persistently assert, without concrete evidence, that Dominion voting systems were compromised in past elections, leading to widespread manipulation and vote-flipping by a malicious actor. Furthermore, Republican figures in DeKalb County, Georgia, backed by Trump's loyal attorneys, hint they will contest the 2024 election results if Trump loses.
They've filed a lawsuit in state court, contending that Dominion voting machines violate Georgia law and requesting that the Secretary of State’s office make voting records and ballot images accessible for public scrutiny within 24 hours of the election. However, this lawsuit has sparked worries that the DeKalb County GOP leaders are trying to deceive voters, preparing to rationalize potential losses in November.
Interestingly, the claimants rely, to some extent, on data compiled from five Georgia counties following the 2020 election when Trump disputed Joe Biden's legitimate win. This included an unauthorized invasion of Coffee County's systems, resulting in criminal charges in the racketeering case against Trump and his associates.
Election officials in Georgia have acknowledged that no voting system is entirely immune to vulnerabilities, as demonstrated by the alleged physical intrusion of Coffee County's offices. Nevertheless, they maintain that Georgia's voting equipment is thoroughly secure and no substantial proof of widespread fraud has been presented.
The GOP lawsuit alleges there is substantiated evidence that the Dominion systems continue to be susceptible to potential tampering. However, the lawsuit fails to back up its claim with concrete evidence.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and state election officials have largely dismissed the alleged vulnerabilities in the Dominion system.
The complainants are utilizing the same worn-out allegations that have been rejected by courts repeatedly, Elizabeth Young, representing Raffensperger's office, informed Judge Scott McAfee at a court hearing to assess whether the lawsuit should progress further. According to Young, "There is not much credibility in the claim."
Marilyn Marks, the executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, a nonprofit voting rights organization, has raised concerns about vulnerabilities in Georgia's voting systems. However, Marks is wary about the true purpose of the DeKalb County complaint, given that the requested action from the secretary of state would not address the vulnerabilities themselves.
"I fear they are just attempting to establish the groundwork for challenging the election based on exposing the serious weaknesses of the system, proving that the results can be manipulated," said Marks, advocating for Georgia to utilize hand-marked paper ballots.
Recently, as the Georgia lawsuit garnered attention, individuals associated with Dominion have reportedly received new threats, according to sources familiar with the matter. A vulgar email scrutinized by CNN cited the same concerns about the integrity of Dominion machines that are also included in the litigation.
Dominion staffers and executives have experienced an increase in death threats and intimidating communications since their software was falsely accused of manipulating the 2020 results by Trump and his allies.
Demonstrating that acknowledged vulnerabilities have actually been exploited is a vital distinction that separates fact from the baseless speculation at the heart of the lawsuit and other similar complaints – including those filed after the 2020 election, which mostly failed.
The DeKalb County GOP lawsuit accuses Georgia's Dominion voting systems of violating a security protocol by keeping encryption keys on its election systems in an unprotected state and in plain text within county election systems, accessible to anyone with legal or illicit access to the system.
However, state officials insist the systems have not been hacked.
Data obtained during the Coffee County breach and subsequently made public online is cited in the new lawsuit, along with comparable information from four other Georgia counties.
As stated in court filings, GOP officials in Georgia obtained and scrutinized copies of 2020 election databases from Appling County, Bibb County, Jones County, Telfair County, and Coffee County – and they allege that the cryptographic encryption keys used to secure those voting systems have been compromised.
While the lawsuit acknowledges that these sensitive election databases were "legally obtained via an Open Records Request and have been available on the internet since October 2021," CNN has previously reported that pro-Trump operatives illegally accessed Coffee County's voting systems shortly after the 2020 election, considering using that data to challenge Biden's legitimate victory.
Multiple individuals, including two former Georgia election officials, still face state-level criminal charges over their alleged roles in the Coffee County breach – which played a part in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' indictment against Trump and over a dozen co-defendants in her 2020 election subversion case.
False claims about voting machines in various states are part of special counsel Jack Smith's criminal prosecution of Trump over his efforts to subvert the 2020 election. In a court filing from Smith on Wednesday, prosecutors cited Trump's claims that voting machines had been manipulated, despite repeated affirmations from federal officials that the 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history.
During the hearing earlier this week, pro-Trump attorney Harry MacDougald, representing DeKalb County GOP, called several witnesses, none of whom could offer concrete evidence that vulnerabilities in the Dominion voting systems in Georgia were exploited in previous elections. MacDougald also represents former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who still faces criminal charges in Georgia for his alleged role in attempting to overturn the 2020 election results (Clark has pleaded not guilty and is not involved in the new lawsuit.).
A person who testified recently claimed that there were "numerous weaknesses" in the Dominion voting systems, yet acknowledged that none of these issues were unique to Georgia.
Georgia election authorities have maintained that their voting systems are secure, largely due to the various safeguards in place to identify any suspicious activities.
However, the 2021 breach in Coffee County and the absence of Georgia implementing a widely suggested security update for its Dominion systems continue to fuel doubts about whether more measures are necessary to ensure the reliability of the results from November.
Despite stating that they won't be able to modify Georgia’s voting systems until following the 2024 election, Georgia election officials also believe that it is extremely improbable for any vulnerabilities to be exploited in actual attacks.
These officials further assert that they have already implemented several security suggestions without the need for system software upgrades.
"Updating the system will be a formidable task, and our election officials are assessing the extent of, and the duration required for this project," Mike Hassinger, spokesperson for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, previously explained to CNN in response to queries about the delay.
CNN’s Nick Valencia, Sara Murray, Marshall Cohen and Jason Morris helped compose this report.
This story has been updated with further details.
The DeKalb County GOP lawsuit becomes embroiled in political controversy, as critics question its motives and claim it is merely an attempt to sow seeds of doubt before the 2024 election, potentially setting the stage for contesting the results.
The ongoing dispute over Dominion voting systems in Georgia serves as a focal point in the broader political landscape, with allegations of security vulnerabilities and potential manipulation fueling partisan tensions in U.S. elections.
