Lawsuit looks to ban election machines over use of QR codes

ATLANTA — Critics of Georgia’s elections were back in court Wednesday in Fulton County trying to ban the use of the voting machines used at every Georgia polling place.

Wednesday’s hearing was not about overturning the 2020 election. Instead, the plaintiffs were trying to block the continued use of the $100 million in voting machines Georgia uses at every polling place in the state.

A seemingly skeptical judge Kimberly Esmond Adams presided over the virtual court hearing.

The plaintiffs claim counting ballots by QR codes is against Georgia law.

“Doesn’t your argument totally ignore the evidence?” Adams asked the plaintiffs at one point.

“The heart of the lawsuit is that the vote is acclimated out of the QR code, and the voter cannot verify that,” Garland Favorito with Voterga.org said.

“You’re suggesting that there would be some kind of intricate system that would reflect one set of votes but record something entirely different?”

“Well, there may, be I don’t know. I can’t verify that,” an attorney for Voterga.org said.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Arrest made in deadly double stabbing at Atlanta apartment
• ‘People aren’t hearing it’: Health commissioner says GA has long road ahead in COVID-19 battle
• Sexual assault allegations made against Gwinnett substitute teacher

The hearing comes as former U.S. Sen. David Perdue has filed an election-related lawsuit of his own alleging absentee ballot fraud.

Three recounts of the presidential election in Georgia found no such evidence. And a Henry County judge dismissed a suit similar to Perdue’s earlier this fall.

“It’s America. People can sue for whatever reason. We stand on the record. We stand on the law,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said.

Raffensperger told Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray that he wants his fellow Republicans who question Georgia’s elections to look at the results of a new study by the right-wing Heritage Foundation that just ranked Georgia No. 1 of all 50 states in election integrity.

“It is a Conservative group, but it also shows Georgia is No. 1 in the country for election integrity and that’s very important,” Raffensperger said.

At Wednesday’s hearing, lawyers for the state of Georgia moved to dismiss this latest lawsuit.

“The legislative language does not contain any sort of prohibition on use of a QR code,” attorney Charlene McGowen said.

Adams did not rule on the fate of Georgia’s voting machines Wednesday but could decide on the motion to dismiss the suit in the next few days.

IN OTHER NEWS:

Justice Department suing Georgia over voting laws (NCD)

©2021 Cox Media Group