|
August 27, 2025
Dear Election Officials,
We hope you saw our press release yesterday announcing CGG’s support for the proposed voluntary pilot of hand-marked paper ballot elections in the November 2025 statewide election and/or the December 2025 local runoffs. Our opinion piece was published today in James Magazine.
We hope you will consider supporting this pilot and urge the Blue Ribbon Committee on Election Procedures to recommend it to the Secretary of State at their 10 AM meeting tomorrow in Clarkesville.
We have received several questions from officials, candidates, and voters about the proposal. Below are responses to clarify what we believe such a pilot should include. (Please note these reflect our recommendations; the Secretary of State will ultimately determine the details of any pilot program.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Would this pilot be required or voluntary?
A: It should be entirely voluntary, including the December runoffs. Counties could choose whether to pilot in November, December, or both. We also recommend allowing partial pilots—such as using hand-marked ballots only on Election Day but not during early voting. The more experience counties gain, the better prepared they will be for the uncertainties facing 2026.
Q: Where would ballot-on-demand printers be used?
A: We recommend using them in metro early voting locations with large numbers of ballot styles to manage. Ballot-on-demand printing is more costly and presents additional chain-of-custody risks. A hybrid approach is best: preprint the top 20–25 most common ballot styles (covering about 70% of voters at that early voting site) and use ballot-on-demand printers for the remaining low-volume styles.
Q: Do smaller counties need ballot-on-demand printers?
A: Likely not. Most counties (about 145+) have only one early voting site and already manage multiple ballot styles efficiently for their paper ballot stock. These counties can continue to do so without ballot-on-demand printing.
Q: What about municipal elections on the November and December ballots?
A: Counties would need to ensure their intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) permit using hand marked ballots tabulated by scanner. Testing the issuance of diverse ballot styles for multiple jurisdictions is precisely the kind of useful training and low-stress practice in a low turnout election this pilot provides for poll workers.
Q: What about the cost of printed ballots?
A: We recommend that the state cover the cost of commercial ballot printing as an incentive for counties. Even without that support, the county's cost savings should be substantial. BMD-printed ballots are by far the most expensive way to print ballots. The toner, paper, and especially the labor costs of testing, securing, transporting, setting up, and maintaining each BMD and printer are enormous, as your budget minders can attest. Hand-marked paper ballots drastically reduce these costs—even if one or more BMDs are still provided for accessibility and backup. Commercially printed ballots are by far the least costly ballots.
Q: Why recommend the software update for pilot equipment?
A: Dominion represents that the update resolves specific BMD software vulnerabilities identified by Dr. Alex Halderman in his 2021 expert report. (We do not have access to test Dominion's claim.) More importantly, the update reportedly fixes the flawed pseudo-random number issue that currently allows ballot images to be linked to individual voters in many cases, in violation of Georgia’s ballot secrecy protections. This flaw should be corrected immediately.
Q: Wasn’t there already a hand-marked ballot pilot in 2019?
A: Yes. On August 15, 2019, the federal court ordered such a pilot for the November 2019 municipal elections. Cobb County volunteered and successfully conducted a municipal election using hand-marked ballots—an election that ran more smoothly than the BMD pilot occurring at the same time. However, most counties never gained that experience. Cobb County had never even seen the equipment before that pilot, but was able to accept the equipment, test it and run a successful pilot for multiple municipal elections in the same time frame as is being discussed for this pilot.
The new pilot would also test the updated software and ballot-on-demand printers where appropriate. With relatively simple ballots, the November and December elections are the perfect time to conduct such a pilot. Waiting until the May primaries, with their complex ballot styles, would be much more challenging.
Q: Which voters could use BMDs in the pilots?
A: Any voter who requests the use of the BMD should be permitted to use it without question. Poll workers obviously should not be attempting to determine whether voters have disabilities that require BMD use.
Q: Who decides whether a pilot will be conducted?
A: The Secretary of State has the authority to decide whether and how to conduct pilots. We hope the Blue Ribbon Committee will strongly recommend that he authorize a flexible, voluntary robust pilot and ensure data is collected for the General Assembly and State Election Board as they consider future statutes and rules.
Conclusion
We urge you to write to the Blue Ribbon Committee members today to support this voluntary pilot and its many benefits.
Their email addresses are:
tim.fleming@house.ga.gov
Victor.Anderson@house.ga.gov
martin.momtahan@house.ga.gov
trey.kelley@house.ga.gov
rob.leverett@house.ga.gov
jan.jones@house.ga.gov
saira.draper@house.ga.gov
Staff member: molly.aziz@house.ga.gov
Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions about our advocacy or recommendations.
As always, thank you for your dedicated service to Georgia’s voters.
Respectfully,
Marilyn Marks
Executive Director, Coalition for Good Governance
678.221.1672 | Marilyn@USCGG.org
About Coalition for Good Governance
Coalition for Good Governance is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to protecting voters’ rights to secure, fair, and transparent elections with verifiable outcomes. The Coalition works to ensure that every voter can cast a completely secret ballot and have confidence in the accuracy and integrity of election results.
| 
