Georgia representatives have introduced a bill that would make paper ballots public. | Adobe Stock
Georgia representatives have introduced a bill that would make paper ballots public. | Adobe Stock
Concerns about voter transparency and accurate ballot counting have been a national conversation topic. In response to these concerns, Georgia representatives have recently introduced a bill that would make paper ballots public.
This comes after VoteRef.com, a website that aims to boost voter confidence and fight fraud with voter transparency, added Georgia to its database in November, VoteRef.com reported in a release. Run by the Voter Reference Foundation (VRF), which was founded by Doug Truax, VoteRef.com was created in response to the belief that the 2020 election was tampered with.
"This is being built as a forward-looking tool to ensure transparency and make sure voters can trust in the lists that are the very foundation of our election system," said VRF Executive Director Gina Swoboda in the release.
VoteRef.com allows users to search for voters based on name and address to examine voting histories. The site encourages users to use this data in order to determine whether dead or relocated family members are erroneously listed, VoteRef.com reported.
VoteRef.com reported that in 2020, there was a discrepancy between the number of voters as determined by votes cast and the number of voters by official turnout reports. The site claims that Georgia had a high amount of discrepancy.
Georgia Republican House Rep. Shaw Blackmon is a lead sponsor of the bill advocating for public paper ballots, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. He believes transparency will restore people's belief in elections.
"This bill would give voters more confidence and help them understand more thoroughly our process," Blackmon told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Both parties wanted a paper ballot because people are more comfortable working with real documents. And this makes those documents open to public inspection."
The bill, which was once bipartisan, is now being fought over between the two parties, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. Democrat detractors worry that the bill will be used in bad faith to facilitate contesting legitimate elections, as was the case during the 2020 presidential election.
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