Trial gets underway for constitutional challenge to Georgia’s election system

By KATE BRUMBACK
Associated Press

ATLANTA (AP) — The trial in a long-running legal challenge to the constitutionality of Georgia’s election is getting underway in federal court in Atlanta. The trial that began Tuesday stems from a lawsuit filed by individual voters and an election integrity organization. The lawsuit asks U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg to order the state to stop using touchscreen voting machines and instead use hand-marked paper ballots. Election integrity activists argue Georgia’s voting system is vulnerable to attack and has operational issues that amount to an unconstitutional burden on citizens’ fundamental right to vote and to have their votes counted accurately. State election officials insist that they’ve taken appropriate protective measures and that the system is reliable.