“This decision effectively treats the right to vote as merely the right to cast a ballot, not the right to know what vote is being cast and counted,” said Marks. “That cannot be the law. A system where a voter has no way to know whether their ballot reflects their true selections is fundamentally incompatible with the constitutional right to vote… Despite the dismissal, the Court credited Plaintiffs’ advocacy with prompting recent legislative reforms, including Georgia’s enactment of a new law to eliminate QR code-based vote tabulation by 2026.”
PRESS RELEASE: CGG Responds to Court Ruling on Georgia's Voting System Security
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1 , 2025
Coalition for Good Governance Responds to Court’s Ruling in Georgia Election Security Lawsuit
ATLANTA, GA – After nearly eight years of litigation, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia has dismissed Coalition for Good Governance’s (CGG) nationally-watched case challenging the constitutionality of Georgia’s electronic touchscreen voting system. The Court concluded that neither CGG nor the individual voter plaintiffs have standing—the legal right to bring the case—despite an extensive record of expert evidence and findings that the system poses serious security and reliability risks. The Plaintiffs also allege that the system has been compromised by unauthorized distribution of the statewide voting software.
“We are deeply disappointed by the Court’s ruling that the Plaintiffs lack standing to pursue our case. We believe this is a serious misinterpretation of the law,” said Marilyn Marks, Executive Director of CGG. “The Court did not reach the merits of the case—including the extensive evidence presented by many of the nation’s leading experts showing that Georgia’s touchscreen voting system is insecure and unsuitable for use in public elections.”
The Court held that voters are not entitled to know or confirm who they are voting for, so long as they can cast a ballot, although the vote may be written in unintelligible unverifiable code. According to the ruling, the voter’s right to vote is fulfilled the moment they put their ballot in a scanner, even if their candidate choices on the touchscreen were different than the ones secretly encoded on the ballot they cast.
“This decision effectively treats the right to vote as merely the right to cast a ballot, not the right to know what vote is being cast and counted,” said Marks. “That cannot be the law. A system where a voter has no way to know whether their ballot reflects their true selections is fundamentally incompatible with the constitutional right to vote.
This is more than a speculative problem. Among such actual examples is the 2022 DeKalb Commissioners race where thousands of voters voted for Michelle Long-Spears and saw her name printed on their ballot as they put it in the scanner. However, they unknowingly actually cast their vote for an opposing candidate whose name was wrongly encoded in the QR code. According to the court ruling, these voters had no legal right to know who they were really voting for, and their right to vote was not undermined.”
The Court acknowledged the extensive evidence of serious vulnerabilities in the system, including expert findings that Georgia’s touchscreen ballot-marking devices (BMDs) could be hacked to change votes undetectably. These vulnerabilities were confirmed by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Nonetheless, the Court held that such risks did not give voters legal standing unless they could prove they were personally harmed in a legally cognizable way.
“The Court essentially held that voters have no right to know whether the state is actually recording vote as they marked on their electronic ballot, as long as they’re allowed to press buttons on a touchscreen,” Marks added. “This renders the right to vote an illusion.”
Despite the dismissal, the Court credited Plaintiffs’ advocacy with prompting recent legislative reforms, including Georgia’s enactment of a new law to eliminate QR code-based vote tabulation by 2026. However, the Georgia legislature appears to be withholding funding for that $70+ million project, which will cause counties to be unable to comply with the QR code ban.
While CGG reviews its legal options—including appeal—one thing is clear: legislative action is urgently needed in the last days of the Georgia legislative session ending this week. President Trump’s recent Executive Order banning QR codes in EAC certified voting systems by late 2025 underscores the urgency. The Georgia legislature must act now to accelerate the move to verifiable, hand marked paper ballots in time for the 2025 and 2026 elections.
“Georgia voters deserve to know that their votes are recorded and counted accurately, and that election outcomes can be verified” said Marks. “This fight is far from over.”
Marilyn Marks
Executive Director
Coalition for Good Governance
Marilyn@uscgg.org
678-221-1672
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.