Opinion by Ray Boyd:
Beginning with the vote that elected Sonny Perdue Governor on November 5, 2002, there has been no way to prove to the voter that the vote cast actually went to the individual it was intended. Let the magnitude of that fact soak in for a minute. It shakes the very foundation of our great republic. Too many of our citizens do not exercise their precious right to vote, but those of us who do can suffer no greater violation of our constitutional right than to be denied the assurance, to the highest level achievable, that our vote will be accurately counted and can be verified as such from the moment it is cast.

My research on this matter started when I tried to run for governor is 2010. I was not the first person by any means that had concerns about the Diebold Direct Recording Electronic (DRE or Touch Screen as they are commonly called) voting machine’s vulnerability to undetected machine malfunctions, malicious code, or software manipulation. The facts I found, and that numerous others had previously discovered, are irrefutable. What blew my mind was why all this data was essentially ignored. Why this issue never gained traction like the “test cheating scandal” is beyond my comprehension.

In my humble opinion, every Secretary of State beginning with Lewis Massey (I include him because he assisted Diebold as lobbyist to obtain the original contract with Georgia worth $54 Million) knew, or should have known, about the problems with these machines. I also believe Sonny Perdue and Nathan Deal knew about, or should have known, about these vulnerabilities.

Current Secretary of State (SOS), Brian Kemp, has totally revamped the SOS web site recently. On the “old” SOS web site, under the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the Elections Section (which I have a copy of), there are 5 pages of questions and answers about voting with an emphasis on how reliable the system is– 5 PAGES. The new web site has only two FAQs under the Election Section: 1. Who can register to vote in the State of Georgia? 2. Am I registered or how do I register to vote? Brian Kemp knows about the DRE vulnerabilities.

Karen Handel knows, and knew, about the “problem”. When she ran for Secretary of State back in 2006, she wrote a very detailed “white paper” titled BASICs. In that 9 page document, she described in detail what she would do if elected SOS.

She stated: ” The people of Georgia will gain confidence in the elections when they can trust the results and the elected officials– the Secretary of State– who conduct them. The next Secretary of State must be someone who the voters can trust, someone who has a comprehensive platform of reform, and someone who has the skills and experience to actually implement that plan. There are real, fundamental problems with the way elections are conducted in Georgia. From voter registration to absentee ballots and Election Day voting to the counting of votes– our elections system is in need of meaningful reform.”

She said further in the paper under the heading Provide for a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail on all (her underline) Electronic Voting Machines, Audits and Software this statement which she underlines for emphasis: “Unfortunately, the electronic voting machines currently used in Georgia’s elections are already obsolete and cannot feasibly be retrofitted with a Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) device.” In fact, VVPAT devices actually exacerbate the problem on DRE machines. Karen Handel knew the vulnerabilities existed in 2006. The machines were outdated then. They were 4 years old then. They are now 12 year old now.

We could pay for a secure and verifiable paper ballot system with optical scanners with the money we could save from repairing and maintaining these unreliable dinosaurs. The state provided the DRE machines to the 159 counties initially, but the counties have to pay the high maintenance cost. This expensive tab does not show up on the Secretary of State’s column in the state budget. This expense is spread (hidden by the state) over 159 county budgets. Something is very wrong in Georgia. Wake up before it is too late for Georgia and America.

Candidate for Governor David Pennington has pledged that he will fix this problem– a massive problem that the current Governor has, to my knowledge, totally ignored. We Georgians have a grand opportunity on Tuesday May 20 to take a giant step forward in Saving Georgia. Nathan Deal must be replaced as Governor of Georgia. We are blessed as a state to have a man like David Pennington who is stepping forward to take on this herculean task of bringing Georgia back from the brink. David Pennington has all the qualities and attribute to Save Georgia, if that is still possible. I believe it is, or I would not be spending my own money and my precious time on my crusade to Save Georgia Save America. Many bright and astute Georgians think we are past the point of no return as a state and a free country. We the people of this well endowed and well located state can become the envy of our nation with the kind of leadership David Pennington brings to the table. He has CHI: Character, Honor, and Integrity.

The voting machine problem exists for this crucial election. The way to overcome the vulnerability of these machines is to win as big as we did with the state-wide T-SPLOST vote in 2012. I am running my plea for help in counties such as Cobb because Cobb County has a concentration of Republicans who are engaged and will actually vote. I am begging every person who reads this to e-mail every person in their e-mail list with instructions for them to do the same. Vote for David Pennington for Governor. Let’s win it outright on Tuesday without a run-off.

As for the voting machine issue, PROVE ME WRONG Brian Kemp and Nathan Deal. Anybody out there PROVE ME WRONG. Our state, and our country, are at stake.

Ray Boyd
A concerned citizen