Former Democratic Candidate for Georgia Lt. Governor, Sarah Riggs Amico spoke with Carroll County Democrats on Thursday evening about voting irregularities during her 2018 election that might stem from touch screen voting machines. Amico telling WLBB radio about voter drop off on ballots that seemed to specifically affect the Lt. GovernorÂ’s election.
“What we saw in November 2018 was fascinating. About 169,000 people who voted for Governor skipped the Lieutenant Governor’s race entirely. So that would be an extraordinarily high level of drop off north of 3.5%, almost double the maximum level of normal,” said Amico. “But what makes it even more interesting is that 130,000 of those voters then suddenly rebound and vote the rest of the ticket in what is considered an expected and normal drop off curve.”
Data that Amico shared on Thursday showed that 158 of 159 counties, including Carroll and Haralson, had large amounts of drop off for the race. The data collected also showed normal drop off percentages when voters used paper absentee ballots rather than using touch screen voting machines. Amico did not allege any motives for the irregularities, which could be anything from malfunctions, faulty programming or even malicious intent.
“We chose not to contest this; I chose not to contest this. My thought was that if we set aside the question of outcome in this race, we should be able to talk about the health of the democracy in Georgia and whether or not you vote is accurately tabulated when you cast your ballot. It is a very simple premise of being a democratic republic,” said Amico. “It has been really disappointing to hear the cricket chorus on the other side of the aisle.”
Carroll county will be a testing ground for new touch screen voting machines with paper receipts this November. Amico said that if voters are uncomfortable in using the touch screen method, request a paper absentee ballot.
