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Inform ★ Engage ★ Empower
October 2025
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Set the Rules, Shape the Elections
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The real battles over Georgia’s elections happen months, sometimes years, before a single ballot is cast. SB 202—the bill that stirred national headlines and even cost Atlanta the All-Star Game—ultimately delivered record turnout and lasting changes to how Georgia votes. But the story didn’t end there.
This month, we’ve teamed up with Garland Favorito, one of Georgia's leading election integrity experts, to walk through what SB 202 achieved, the legislative gaps that remain, and why it’s a reminder of the power we hold as voters to shape these rules every election.
Paul Miller
Editor-in-Chief
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Special thanks to Tamara and Garland Favorito for generously sharing their time and expertise in our reporting on Election Integrity Legislation.
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Support Dr. Jan Johnston’s Legal Defense:
Fulton County’s GOP SEB representative is being targeted for her election integrity work
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Dr. Jan Johnston, Fulton County resident and GOP representative on the State Election Board (SEB), has been a steadfast advocate for transparency and security in Georgia’s elections.
Now, she’s facing a lawsuit from a left-wing group, American Oversight, that threatens to financially burden her for simply doing her job as Vice Chair. The state is not covering her legal defense, so she’s fighting this battle personally.
Let’s stand with Dr. Jan and show our gratitude for her integrity and courage.
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SB 202 Remains Undefeated:
Another Legal Challenge Rejected
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A federal judge has rejected yet another legal attack on Georgia’s 2021 election law, SB 202, this time upholding the law’s restrictions on mass mailing of absentee ballot applications.
Voting advocacy groups had argued that the state’s limits violated First Amendment rights. Judge J.P. Boulee disagreed, ruling the law was justified to prevent voter confusion caused by multiple, pre-filled applications being sent to voters.
SB 202 continues its perfect record in court — no legal challenge has succeeded against the law since its passage in 2021.
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Blue Ribbon Committee Spotlight:
Professor Stark’s Blistering Critique of Georgia’s Elections
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Presentation appears at 1 hour, 55 minutes of the meeting.
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On September 18 in Savannah, the Georgia House Blue Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures held another hearing — and it featured one of the most compelling presentations yet.
Phillip B. Stark, UC Berkeley statistics professor and the inventor of risk-limiting audits (RLAs), delivered a powerful indictment of Georgia’s election practices. His core message:
👉 If the paper trail isn’t trustworthy, audits are just “security theater.”
Stark argued that the gold standard for secure elections is:
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📝 Hand-marked paper ballots,
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🖥️ Machine tabulation, and
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🔍 Manual, risk-limiting audits of those paper ballots.
By contrast, Georgia relies on ballot-marking devices (BMDs) — what Stark called “a pencil with a mind of its own.”Since voters can’t reliably verify BMD printouts, the state’s current audit practices can't detect or correct errors, making RLAs essentially meaningless.
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Partner Profile:
Garland Favorito — VoterGA.org
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"Elections should be independently verifiable, auditable,
recount-capable, and transparent."
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📌 Quick Facts
- Organization: Voter GA
- Role: Co-Founder; Elections Director, Constitution Party of Georgia
- Focus: Voting system technology & security • Election integrity & transparency reform • Hand-marked paper ballots & public hand counts
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Known For:
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40+ years in IT
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20+ years researching electronic voting systems
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Expert witness testimony nationwide and in Georgia
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Leading voice for election transparency in Georgia
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🧭 Background & Current Priorities
A veteran IT professional, Garland, who emerged as one of Georgia’s most persistent election integrity advocates, co-founded VoterGA to promote transparent, auditable elections and has testified in lawsuits challenging Georgia’s electronic voting systems. He leads the fight for voter-verified paper ballots and open records.
Current Priorities:
- SB 303 — Hand-Marked Paper Ballots (HMPB) and Publicly Recorded Hand Counts
- Goal — Secure, auditable and verifiable elections for Georgia.
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✍️ In His Own Words
“The support for SB 214 and Hand-Marked Paper Ballots (HMPB) is growing. HMPB are auditable because each ballot is unique. Selection summaries produced by a Ballot Marking Device are identical if they are voted the same way. These so-called ‘ballots’ are subject to fraud because there is no numerical control, making them easy to duplicate and fraudulently inject into election results.
But HMPB solves only part of the problem. Once completed, voters scan them into Dominion tabulators that are unsecure, uncertifiable, and remotely accessible. Unrefuted expert witness testimony in the DeKalb GOP v. Raffensperger case proved that the Dominion system fails basic security standards: encryption keys stored in plain text, a hard-coded admin password that can’t be changed, and components that have been accessed remotely during previous elections.
For these reasons—and because election officials refuse to produce ballots after controversial elections—our Dominion system cannot be trusted to count votes correctly. We must also have SB 303 and publicly recorded hand counts to secure Georgia elections.”
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Georgia’s election laws set the rules long before voters step into the booth. They determine who can register, how votes are cast, and how results are counted. The Election Integrity Act of 2021 (SB 202) made major strides — but important gaps remain, and new reforms are stalled at the Capitol. This month, we take a clear-eyed look at what’s working, what isn’t, and what’s next.
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WHO VOTES
Only eligible, living, documented citizens should vote.
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✅ SB 202 Wins
- Voter ID for absentee ballots strengthened
- Signature matching replaced with ID checks
- Voter roll cleanups required regularly
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👉 SB 202 made meaningful improvements to voter eligibility checks, but Georgia’s voter rolls still contain too many errors — especially in high-population counties like Fulton, where registration totals exceed the voting-age population.
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HOW THEY VOTE
Voting should be simple and accessible, but also secure and legal.
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✅ SB 202 Wins
- Drop boxes standardized with location and access rules
- Unsolicited absentee ballot mailings ended
- Mobile voting buses banned
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⚠️ Gaps & Work to Do
- No-excuse absentee voting allows for large volumes of mail ballots, increasing the risks
- Ballot harvesting loopholes remain and are difficult to enforce
- Technology vulnerabilities persist, especially in Dominion systems
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👉 SB 202 addressed major concerns around ballot access and standardization, but absentee volume and unaddressed tech risks leave vulnerabilities that bad actors could exploit.
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🖥️ TECH SPOTLIGHT: Why a Patch Isn’t Enough
In mid-2023, VoterGA warned that simply patching Georgia's Dominion systems (e.g., upgrading from v5.5 to v5.17) would not secure elections because deeper architectural vulnerabilities can't be fixed with software updates. Retrofitting security into systems not originally designed with it is extremely difficult.
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HOW VOTES ARE COUNTED
Results must be accurate, reconciled and confidently certified.
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⚠️ Gaps & Work to Do
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Fulton has resisted releasing 2020 ballot images
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The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections (BRE) certifies results without full data
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SEB authority remains legally challenged and limited
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👉 SB 202 took meaningful steps toward transparency, but legal gridlock, Fulton County resistance, and weak enforcement still undermine public confidence in the count.
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Adaline Kumar, FCRP Secretary
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📝 Think passing election bills is simple?
Adaline Kumar's Election Integrity Legislation Brief shows what really happens at the Capitol — from how bills move (or stall) to why key reforms didn’t make it through in 2025.
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Those wins and gaps tell only part of the story. The real challenges are already unfolding.
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WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
Strong oversight, clear lines of authority, and principled leadership must replace gridlock and dysfunction.
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⚡ Governance Breakdown
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SEB is mired in conflict — Chair subverts the will of the majority of the board.
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Fulton County’s Board of Commissioners is blocking GOP appointments to the county elections board despite court rulings.
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🧊 Legislative Gridlock
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While election security and transparency laws passed in 2024, additional key reform bills failed to pass in 2025.
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GOP leadership is divided, and momentum has stalled.
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Election officials are split on solutions, leaving no clear plan for 2026.
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👉 Georgia’s Election Integrity Act (SB 202) took every punch — from “Jim Crow 2.0” smears to boycotts and lawsuits — and it held. Record turnout proved the critics wrong, and Georgia led the nation with stronger, fairer elections. The road ahead will bring new fights, but we’ve shown that persistence and focus can win the day.
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Mark Your Calendars and
Show Up!
Next Elections:
Public Service Commission / General Municipal Election
🗓️Early Voting: October 14-31
🗓️Election Day: November 4
Senate District 35 Special Election
- To replace State Senator Jason Esteves (D)
🗓️Early Voting: October 27-November 14
🗓️Election Day: November 18
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- Register to vote
- Check your voter ID & district
- Update existing voter registration
- View sample ballots
- Election dates and times
- Poll locations
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🙋♂️ Poll Watch. Poll Work. Win!
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Fulton's Poll Watcher Crew is expanding — and you can be part of it.
Fulton County sits at the heart of Georgia elections, and Georgia is a national battleground. That’s why our Poll Watcher Committee plays a crucial role in protecting election integrity at every level — county, state, and national. If you are looking for a way to fulfill your civic duty to your community and the country, it’s hard to find a better way than becoming an active member of our Poll Watcher Crew.
Led by Steve Smith and Kevin Muldowney, the team coordinates a growing network of volunteers. Lucy Skelton leads analytics & evaluations, while Earl Ferguson ensures watchers are credentialed and ready to go.
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Positions We’re Looking to Fill
✅ Recruiters – Spread the word at events; we’ll give you flyers & talking points.
✉️ Communicators – Help keep watchers informed via email.
🎉 Party Planners – Make training and recognition events lively and fun.
🧮 Database Pros – Keep our poll watcher info organized.
🦸 Poll Watchers – Want to be an election integrity hero? Come join us on a poll watch! It’s the reason we’re here.
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