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Georgia legislature considering paper ballots for future elections

If passed, Senate Bill 403 would bring paper ballots back to elections by 2024.

The state of Georgia is considering a change to the way you vote.

Senate Bill 403 would require all primaries and general elections in the state to move away from solely digitally recording voting by 2024.

Some voters say it's not a bad idea.

For more than 20 years, Joy Coldwell has been a registered and active Houston County voter.

Her business, Initial Reaction, has been just a few hundred feet from the County's board of elections office for eight years.

Coldwell says she wouldn't mind a change to the voting process.

“I would like the combination where there would be a paper trail and also you could vote electronically,” Coldwell said in her Perry store.

Senate Bill 403 could make that happen.

The proposed Bill would ban any state primary or general election from using direct recording electronic voting systems alone by 2024.

Andrew Holland with the Houston County Board of Elections says the change would provide a safety net.

“I think that's the big sticking point for a lot of the legislators, is that it have a paper trail that's able to be you know hand audited, and not require a machine, if it was necessary,” Holland said.

It would change it so voters fill out a ballot by hand or electronically and then the paper ballot would be scanned. Thereby creating a paper back up for audits and recounts.

Right now, digital machines record and count the votes on their own, but Holland says hacking them would be difficult.

“None of the pieces of equipment we use in our election system are ever connected to the internet. The election server is never connected to the internet, the touch screens, the express poll, none of it is,” Holland told 13 WMAZ.

Coldwell says she has no reason to doubt Georgia elections.

“I trust it,” she said simply.

She wasn't the only one.

Registered voter Elizabeth Bunnell says the change would be reassuring, but might not be needed.

“I don't think it's necessary, but I think for the comfort of a voter, it's definitely beneficial,” Bunnell said while walking downtown.

Both Bunnell and Coldwell say having a paper back-up is a good idea and Coldwell added that it makes good business sense.

Other Houston County voters that spoke with 13 WMAZ supported the idea.

So far, SB 403 has passed the Georgia Senate, but not the House of Representatives. You can read it here.

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