Georgia voting equipment flaw raises concerns over ballot secrecy as AI advances

A flaw in Georgia’s voting equipment could allow voters to be matched to their ballots after they have been cast, and security researchers say it needs to be fixed as artificial intelligence advances.

The flaw does not allow votes to be changed or cast doubt on election results. However, it could allow someone to see how others voted, which violates the state constitution and could create an opening for legal challenges.

The vulnerability has been known for years, but the widespread adoption of AI tools and their increased sophistication has caused election security experts to raise concerns.

Other jurisdictions across the country use the same equipment as Georgia and have applied a software update to fix the flaw. The voting equipment is made by Liberty Vote, which was previously known as Dominion Voting Systems under different ownership.

Georgia is the only state where the system is used statewide. Plus, Georgia’s open records law allows access to information that could be used to match voters to their ballots. 

Georgia voters make their selections on the voting machines and receive a printed out version of their ballot with a QR code that is then put into a scanner to count the votes. Those records are randomized, but according to a report by researchers in 2022, the flaw allows for the ballots to be put back in the order they were cast. Combined with other publicly available data, researchers wrote that it could be possible to match voters to their ballots.

Another researcher from Princeton University said he was able to use AI to match most ballots from the May primary election to specific voters.

However, Georgia election officials remain gridlocked on how to move forward with the update or to restrict public access to information.