Election security

Orange County, Florida election officials held public logic and accuracy testing on voting machines less than a month before Election Day, part of a process required by state law before every election. Workers ran sample ballots through randomly selected machines to confirm they function properly and tally votes correctly, with members of the public invited to observe.

Karen Castor Dentel, Orange County Supervisor of Elections, said the exercise supports transparency and public trust in election integrity. Resident Patti Strandberg, who has volunteered in multiple roles throughout the election process, said watching the testing firsthand offered reassurance and encouraged others with concerns to attend future public viewings.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Early voting runs from Oct. 19 to Nov. 1, and voters seeking mail ballots must request them by Oct. 22. The testing comes amid ongoing national attention to election security and voter confidence ahead of the midterm election cycle.

Georgia's Joint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee, created by the legislature's Special Session Senate Resolution 3 EX and chaired by Sen. Max Burns and Rep. Victor Anderson, held its third meeting to evaluate requirements for the state's next election equipment, focused on hand-marked paper ballots produced via ballot-on-demand printing.

Secretary of state officials reviewed Georgia's voting system history since 2000, including 2005 touchscreen upgrades and 2006 electronic poll books. Cybersecurity experts, including Geoff Hale of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Michael Specter of Georgia Tech, testified that election infrastructure faces persistent cyber threats, though no confirmed vote-tally interference has occurred. Vendors and voting-integrity advocates, including Verified Voting's Mark Lindeman and Mojave Research's Jason Wareham, urged hand-marked paper ballots, independent security research access, and systems that "fail loudly" on errors, while preserving accessible ballot-marking devices for voters with disabilities.

Officials described the goal as a system that is easy to vote but hard to cheat, echoing Gov. Brian Kemp, with an aggressive timeline to get any new system to county officials for training ahead of future elections.