February 8, 2024
By: Dwayne Page
Beginning with the 2024 election cycle, DeKalb County voters will be casting ballots on new voting machines that will include a “Voter-verifiable paper audit trail.”
(See video below)
In 2022, the DeKalb County Election Commission voted to purchase the machines from the Microvote Company, an action to comply with a law passed by the legislature requiring that on or after January 1, 2024 “each voting machine used by a county election commission must produce a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT).” As defined, a VVPAT means “a paper record that is marked either manually by the voter or with the assistance of a devise that includes human-readable voter selections that the voter may check for accuracy before the vote is cast.”
“This is the first election (March 5) using our new voting machines,” said DeKalb County Administrator of Elections Dustin Estes. “Thankfully, we have the same vendor from our previous voting machines so they are very similar with some minor upgrades”.
“The major difference is that the state now requires us to have a paper trail and that paper trail is contained inside a large black box that is locked and sealed inside the voting unit,” Estes explained. “ It is to the benefit of the voter to confirm when they are verifying who they have voted for through their selections and it will print that on paper inside the box with a window so that they (voter) can confirm that who they selected on the machine is now printed on paper. It is to the benefit of the voter as a double check that who they wanted to vote for is actually who they voted for. Once they cast their ballot, then that paper will roll up, and no one will ever know who they voted for,” said Estes.
“I want the voters to be aware that their name is not printed on that paper and there is no identification that could tie the voter to who they voted for. The secret ballot is intact. That is sealed for 22 months or six months depending upon the election and its held in case there is an audit or a court order for a contest of elections,” said Estes.