ORDER
Amy Totenberg, United States District Judge.
I. Introduction...1307
II. Background...1307
III. Threshold Jurisdictional Issues...1314
A. Standing...1314
IV. Plaintiffs' Motions for Preliminary Injunction...1321
V. Conclusion...1327
I. Introduction
This case involves colliding election and voting rights dynamics and dilemmas. The State of Georgia Defendants have delayed in grappling with the heightened critical cybersecurity issues of our era posed for the State's dated, vulnerable voting system that provides no independent paper audit trail. The Plaintiffs did not bring their preliminary injunction motions in a sufficient time span to allow for thoughtful, though expedited, remedial relief, despite the important, substantive content of their evidentiary submissions in connection with their preliminary injunction motions. There are no easy answers to the conflicts posed here. In a democracy, citizens want to be assured of the integrity of the voting process, that their ballots are properly counted and not diluted by inaccurate or manipulated counting, and that the privacy of their votes and personal information required for voter registration is maintained. But citizens also depend on the orderly operation of the electoral and voting process. Last-minute, wholesale changes in the voting process operating in over 2,600 precincts, along with scheduled early voting arrangements, could predictably run the voting process and voter participation amuck. Transparency and accountability are, at the very least, essential to addressing the significant issues that underlie this case.
Currently before the Court in this matter are Defendants' motions to dismiss [Docs. 82, 83, 234] and Plaintiffs' more recently filed motions for preliminary injunction [Docs. 258, 260, 271]. Given the time sensitivity of Plaintiffs' motions with respect to the upcoming November 2018 elections, the Court held an extended fullday hearing on Plaintiffs' motions on September 12, 2018 as well as the threshold jurisdictional issues of standing and Eleventh Amendment immunity raised in Defendants' motions to dismiss.
II. Background2
In their complaints, their motions for preliminary injunction, and their presentations
Plaintiffs start by describing Georgia's voting system. The system relies on the use of Direct Recording Electronic voting machines ("DREs") for electors to cast their votes in public elections. This computer voting equipment is used in tandem with the State's Global Election Management Systems ("GEMS") server and County GEMS servers that communicate voting data.
Most significantly, the DREs do not create a paper trail or any other means by which to independently verify or audit the recording of each elector's vote. i.e., the actual ballot selections made by the elector for either the elector's review or for audit purposes. Instead, at the hearing, Dr. Alex Halderman, a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director of the Center for Computer Security and Society at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, discussed and demonstrated how a malware virus can be introduced into the DRE machine by insertion of an infected memory card (or by other sources) and alter the votes cast without detection.
Other cybersecurity elections experts have shared in Professor Halderman's observations of the data manipulation and detection concealment capacity of such malware or viruses, as well as the ability to access the voting system via a variety of entry points. Plaintiffs filed affidavits in the record for several of these experts.
The DREs record individual ballot data in the order in which they are cast, and they assign a unique serial number and timestamp to each ballot. This design for recording ballots, according to Plaintiffs, makes it possible to match the ballots to the electors who cast them. Additionally, the Georgia DREs use versions of Windows and BallotStation (developed in 2005) software, both of which are out of date — to the point that the makers of the software no longer support these versions or provide security patches for them. (Halderman Affidavit, Doc. 260-2 ¶¶ 24-28.) The DRE machines and related election software are all the product of Premier Election Solutions, formerly known as Diebold Election Systems. A large volume of the voting machines were purchased when the DRE initiative was first implemented in the 2002 to 2004 period in Georgia.
Statewide, Georgia uses its central GEMS server at the Secretary of State's offices to build the ballots for each election for each county.
In August 2016, Logan Lamb, a professional cybersecurity expert in Georgia, went to CES's public website and discovered that he was able to access key election system files, including multiple gigabytes of data and thousands of files with private elector information. The information included electors' driver's license numbers, birth dates, full home addresses, the last four digits of their Social Security numbers, and more. Mr. Lamb was also able to access, for at least 15 counties, the election management databases from the GEMS central tabulator used to create ballot definitions, program memory cards, and tally and store and report all votes. He also was able to access passwords for polling place supervisors to operate the DREs and make administrative corrections to the DREs. Immediately, Mr. Lamb alerted Merle King, the Executive Director overseeing CES, of the system's vulnerabilities. The State did not take any remedial action after Mr. King was alerted.
In February 2017, a cybersecurity colleague of Mr. Lamb's, Chris Grayson, was able to repeat what Mr. Lamb had done earlier and access key election information. Mr. Lamb also found, around this time, that he could still access and download the information as he had before. On March 1, 2017, Mr. Grayson notified a colleague at Kennesaw State University about the system's vulnerabilities, and this led to notification of Mr. King again. Days later, the FBI was alerted and took possession of the CES server.
The Secretary of State has since shut down the CES and moved the central server internally within the Secretary's office. But on July 7, 2017, four days after this lawsuit was originally filed in Fulton Superior Court, all data on the hard drives of the University's "elections.kennesaw.edu" server was destroyed. And on August 9, 2017, less than a day after this action was removed to this Court, all data on the hard drives of a secondary server — which contained similar information to the "elections.kennesaw.edu" server — was also destroyed. As discussed more fully later in this Order, the State offered little more than a one-sentence response to these data system incursions and vulnerabilities at CES.
The Premier/Diebold voting machine models at issue have been the subject of comprehensive critical review both by university computer engineer security experts independently as well as under the auspices of the States of Maryland, California, and Ohio. These studies identified serious security vulnerabilities in the software and resulted in the three states' adoption of different voting systems. (Halderman Affidavit, Doc. 260-2 ¶¶ 17-23; see also Atkeson Affidavit, Doc. 276-1 ¶¶ 8-9 (also discussing the states of New Mexico and Virginia transitioning away from DREs after identifying several issues with the machines).)
Similarly, the Board of Advisors of the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission (EAC) passed a resolution in 2018 recommending that the EAC "not certify any system that does not use voter-verifiable paper as the official record of voter intent."
Dr. Wenke Lee, Professor of Computer Science at Georgia Tech University and
In the midst of the events involving the breach of the CES at Kennesaw State University, Plaintiffs filed the current case against Defendants
The Coalition Plaintiffs bring two federal claims in their Third Amended Complaint:
(1) a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of due process, based on the substantial burden placed on their fundamental right to vote; and
(2) a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim for violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal protection, based on the more severe burdens placed on the Plaintiffs' right to vote, right to freedom of speech and association, and the Georgia constitutional right to a secret ballot
For each of these claims, the Coalition Plaintiffs seek declaratory and injunctive relief against Brian P. Kemp in his official capacity as the Secretary of State of Georgia and as Chairperson of the State Election Board; the members of the State Election Board (David J. Worley, Rebecca N. Sullivan, Ralph F. "Rusty" Simpson, and Seth Harp) in their official capacities; and the members of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections (Mary Carole Cooney, Vernetta Nuriddin, David J. Burge, Stan Matarazzo, and Aaron Johnson) in their official capacities. The Coalition Plaintiffs' Third Amended Complaint seeks a range of relief that is broader than their Motion for Preliminary Injunction now before the Court. Specifically, the Coalition Plaintiffs' Third Amended Complaint seeks the following:
The Curling Plaintiffs bring essentially the same two constitutional claims as those brought by the Coalition Plaintiffs. As a slight variation, the Curling Plaintiffs bring their constitutional claims against the Defendants listed above as well as one additional defendant: Richard Barron in his official capacity as the Director of the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections. The Curling Plaintiffs also seek somewhat varied relief for these claims in their Second Amended Complaint:
As stated above, both sets of Plaintiffs seek more limited and immediate relief in their motions for preliminary injunction. The Curling Plaintiffs ask the Court to order the following relief prior to the November 2018 general election: (1) enjoin the State Defendants to direct all counties that the use of DREs in the November 2018 election (and the December 2018 runoff election) is prohibited, with the exception for electors with disabilities; (2) enjoin the State Defendants to direct all counties
The Court now turns to the jurisdictional issues raised in Defendants' motion to dismiss before addressing the Plaintiffs' motions for preliminary injunction.
III. Threshold Jurisdictional Issues
A. Standing
The State Defendants argue that both the Curling Plaintiffs and the Coalition Plaintiffs lack standing to bring their claims in federal court. According to the State Defendants, Plaintiffs fail to establish each of the three elements required for standing. The Fulton County Defendants' Motion to Dismiss incorporates by reference the State Defendants' arguments on standing. (See Fulton Mot. to Dismiss, Doc. 82-1 at 5.)
The Supreme Court has set forth the standard for determining whether a party has standing:
United States v. Hays, 515 U.S. 737, 742-43, 115 S.Ct. 2431, 132 L.Ed.2d 635 (1995) (quoting Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-561, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992)) (internal quotation marks omitted). "[A] plaintiff must demonstrate standing for each claim he seeks to press and for each form of relief that is sought." Town of Chester, N.Y. v. Laroe Estates, Inc., ___ U.S. ___, 137 S.Ct. 1645, 1650, 198 L.Ed.2d 64 (2017) (quoting Davis v. Federal Election Comm'n, 554 U.S. 724, 734, 128 S.Ct. 2759, 171 L.Ed.2d 737 (2008)).
As to the first element, Defendants contend that Plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged a concrete "injury in fact." Defendants argue that Plaintiffs' allegations that the DRE voting machines are vulnerable to hacking and are "presumed to be compromised" convey only a speculative, generalized fear, thus falling short of establishing a concrete injury.
These arguments are unavailing. For one, Plaintiffs have alleged that the DRE voting system was actually accessed or hacked multiple times already — albeit by cybersecurity experts who reported the system's vulnerabilities to state authorities, as opposed to someone with nefarious purposes. (Curling Complaint, Doc. 70 ¶¶ 42-43, 45-49; Coalition Complaint, Doc. 226 ¶¶ 95-106.) Contrary to Defendants' characterizations, Plaintiffs' allegations are
Plaintiffs also allege the threat of future harm. For instance, in upcoming elections, Plaintiffs allege that Defendants are requiring them to vote early, mail a paper absentee ballot, and pay for postage to avoid having to use unsecure DRE machines, thereby subjecting them to unequal treatment. Furthermore, Plaintiffs plausibly allege a threat of a future hacking event that would jeopardize their votes and the voting system at large. Despite being aware of election system and data cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities identified by national authorities and the DRE system's vulnerability to hacking as early as August 2016 — when Logan Lamb, the computer scientist, first alerted the State's Executive Director of the CES of his ability to access the system — Defendants allegedly have not taken steps to secure the DRE system from such attacks. (Curling Complaint, Doc. 70 ¶ 46 ("[N]ot only did Georgia fail to take remedial action when alerted to the problem Lamb raised, it failed to act even in the face of the detailed information on the cybersecurity threats facing the nation's election systems, and the recommended specific steps to reduce the risk, which were disseminated by the FBI, the DHS and the EAC
Importantly, courts have recognized these sorts of alleged harms as concrete injuries, sufficient to confer standing. In particular, courts have found that plaintiffs have standing to bring Due Process and Equal Protection claims where they alleged that their votes would likely be improperly counted based on the use of certain voting technology. See, e.g., Stewart v. Blackwell, 444 F.3d 843, 855 (6th Cir. 2006) ("The increased probability that their votes will be improperly counted based on punch-card and central-count optical scan technology is neither speculative nor remote."), vacated (July 21, 2006), superseded, 473 F.3d 692 (6th Cir. 2007) (vacated and superseded on the grounds that the case was rendered moot by the county's subsequent abandonment of the DRE machines at issue); Banfield v. Cortes, 922 A.2d 36, 44 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2007) (finding that the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged standing under similar Pennsylvania law, based on "the fact that Electors have no way of knowing whether the votes they cast on a DRE have been recorded and will be counted," which "gives Electors a direct and immediate interest in the outcome of this litigation"); c.f. Stein v. Cortes, 223 F.Supp.3d 423, 432-33 (E.D. Pa. 2016) (where plaintiffs sought a vote recount, post-election, based on the use of unsecure DREs, finding no standing based on the plaintiffs' "less than clear" allegations that the DRE machines are "hackable"; that the Pennsylvania Election Code's recount provisions are "labyrinthine, incomprehensible, and impossibly burdensome"; and that the past vote count was inaccurate — which plaintiffs merely
Turning to causal connection, the second element of standing, Defendants raise different arguments in response to the Curling Plaintiffs' claims versus the Coalition Plaintiffs' claims. For the Curling Plaintiffs, Defendants argue that any injury would be traced to illegal hacking into the DREs, not the use of the DREs themselves. Here, as discussed above, the Curling Plaintiffs have alleged that Defendants were aware of serious security breaches in the DRE voting system and failed to take adequate steps to address those breaches. Notably, even after Mr. Lamb first alerted the State about his access of the voting system, he and another cybersecurity expert were able to access the system again about six months later. (Curling Complaint, Doc. 70 ¶ 47.) Plaintiffs allege that Defendants have continued to fail to take action to remedy the DRE system's vulnerabilities. (Id. ¶¶ 46, 61, 62, 72.) And they allege that this failure, in turn, impacts the integrity of the voting system and their ability as citizens to rely upon it when casting votes in this system. (Id.) At the motion to dismiss stage, these allegations plausibly show causal connection, even if indirectly, between Defendants' continued use of unsecure DREs and the injury to Plaintiffs' constitutional rights. Focus on the Family v. Pinellas Suncoast Transit Auth., 344 F.3d 1263, 1273 (11th Cir. 2003) ("[E]ven harms that flow indirectly from the action in question can be said to be `fairly traceable' to that action....").
For the Coalition Plaintiffs, Defendants make the same argument above regarding causation (which fails) and another slightly different argument. Defendants take issue with the Coalition Plaintiffs' request for relief enjoining the State Defendants from enforcing O.C.G.A. § 21-2-383(b) and State Election Board Rule 183-1-12-.01. Defendants assert that the State Defendants (the Secretary and the State Election Board) do not mandate the use of DREs; rather, state law requires the use of DREs. Defendants maintain that the State Defendants are merely implementing the governing state law, which they are bound to do, and therefore Plaintiffs miss the mark by seeking to enjoin the State Defendants' actions instead of challenging the state law itself. In this way, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs have not linked their injury to any action by the State Defendants.
But O.C.G.A. § 21-2-383(b) does not require the use of DREs as Defendants claim it does. The statute requires absentee electors who vote in-person in the advance voting period to vote by DRE, but only "in jurisdictions in which direct recording electronic (DRE) voting systems are used at the polling places on election day." The statute simply specifies the use of DREs under certain circumstances. Rather, it is the State Election Board that issued a rule requiring the use of DREs in "all federal, state, and county general primaries and elections, special primaries and elections, and referendums," and requiring the use of DREs by "persons desiring to vote by absentee ballot in person." Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 183-1-12-.01. When read together, the state statute and the State Election Board rule indicate that the State Defendants have chosen to enforce state law so as to generally require the use of DREs in elections statewide.
Even apart from the statutory language, the Coalition Plaintiffs have plausibly alleged that the State Defendants play a critical role in directing, implementing, programming, and supporting the DRE system throughout the state. The Coalition Plaintiffs allege that the Secretary provided the counties with the DRE machines
Finally, on the third element of redressability, Defendants raise some of the same arguments as they do for the second element. Defendants argue that an injunction prohibiting the State Defendants from using DREs would not actually stop the deployment of DREs. Defendants maintain that county officials not included in this suit would continue to use DREs, as the State is not the entity that enforces the law requiring DREs. Defendants also argue that a different balloting system would not eliminate potential third-party interference, as no election system is flawless.
As stated above, the Court finds that the Coalition Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged that the State Defendants play a significant role in the continued use and security of DREs, and therefore the requested injunction would help redress some of the Coalition Plaintiffs' injury. The Secretary of State both has the authority and obligation to investigate complaints regarding the accuracy and safety of the DRE voting system and to take appropriate corrective action in connection with the continued use of the DRE system. O.C.G.A. § 21-2-379.2. The Third Amended Complaint describes how the Secretary of State could play a critical role in conducting an in-depth investigation and formulating a remedy. As alleged in the Complaint, the State of California commissioned a study in 2007 to examine the security of its own Diebold AccuVote DRE system, the same type of system used in Georgia. Upon the study's findings that the DRE system was inadequate, had serious design flaws, and was susceptible to hacking, California's Secretary of State then decertified its DRE system in 2009. (Coalition Complaint, Doc. 226 ¶¶ 81, 84, 86.) The Complaint similarly alleges that the Secretary of State for Ohio commissioned an independent expert study of a newer version of the DREs than those used in Georgia and reached similar conclusions as to the lack of trustworthy design and vulnerability to attack of the election system. (Id. ¶¶ 81, 83, 85.)
The State Defendants here are similarly in a position to redress the Plaintiffs' alleged injury. Thus, if the Court were to grant at least part of the requested injunctive relief as to the suspended use of the DRE voting system, any injunction would likely enjoin both the State Defendants as well as the Fulton County Defendants (as there is no argument that the County would not be enjoined). Furthermore, as to Defendants' argument that no election system is flawless, the Coalition Plaintiffs rightly point out that this is not the standard for redressability. Plaintiffs are seeking relief to address a particular voting system which, as currently implemented, is allegedly recognized on a national level to be unsecure and susceptible to manipulation by advanced persistent threats
Defendants assert three additional arguments related to standing: that the Coalition Plaintiffs cannot manufacture standing by inflicting harm on themselves, that the individual Plaintiff Coalition for Good Governance ("CGG") lacks organizational and associational standing, and that Plaintiffs must reside in the jurisdiction for which they seek to enjoin DRE use.
The first of these arguments fails because the cases relied on by Defendants are distinguishable. Here, the Coalition Plaintiffs are suffering injury from the voluntary exercise of their fundamental right to vote, not from just any sort of activity that they decide to engage in. In Clapper v. Amnesty International USA, 568 U.S. 398, 133 S.Ct. 1138, 185 L.Ed.2d 264 (2013), the plaintiffs voluntarily spent money to take certain protective measures, based on a hypothetical fear of being subject to surveillance. And in Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 112 S.Ct. 2130, 119 L.Ed.2d 351 (1992), the plaintiffs expressed an intent to voluntarily return to certain places they had visited before, which would deprive them of the opportunity to observe animals of an endangered species. These activities do not invoke the protection associated with exercising fundamental rights, such as the right to vote. The Coalition Plaintiffs aptly point out that Defendants' logic would bar many voting rights cases, based on individuals choosing to vote by one method or another, which certainly is not how courts have assessed standing in this context.
Defendants' challenge of CGG's standing similarly fails. "An organization has standing to enforce the rights of its members when its members would otherwise have standing to sue in their own right, the interests at stake are germane to the organization's purpose, and neither the claim asserted nor the relief requested requires the participation of individual members in the lawsuit." Fla. State Conference of N.A.A.C.P. v. Browning, 522 F.3d 1153, 1160 (11th Cir. 2008) (internal quotation marks omitted). The State Defendants argue that the Coalition Plaintiffs merely "presume" harm to their own members, without sufficiently alleging harm to one or more of their members. (State Mot. to Dismiss, Doc. 234-1 at 31.) They also argue that CGG cannot assert that individuals are "members" merely because they are listed on CGG's mailing list. (Id.) The Coalition Plaintiffs, however, have alleged that the individual Plaintiffs — Laura Digges, William Digges III, Ricardo Davis, and Megan Missett — are all members of CGG. Contrary to Defendants' assertion, these particular Plaintiffs do not allege that they are members of CGG solely because they are on the mailing list. Furthermore, at least one of these Plaintiffs also alleges harm to his or her individual rights under the federal Constitution, as discussed above, so that they could presumably sue Defendants in their own right. (Coalition Complaint, Doc. 226 ¶¶ 24-27.) The Court finds these allegations sufficient to confer associational standing to CGG.
As for Defendants' argument that Plaintiffs must reside in the county where they seek injunctive relief, this argument misses the mark. The Court need only find that one plaintiff (from each of the two sets of Plaintiffs) has sufficiently alleged standing, and that is the case here. Am. Civil Liberties
In sum, the Court finds that both sets of Plaintiffs have sufficiently alleged standing to bring their claims at this juncture.
B. Eleventh Amendment Immunity
Defendants argue that Plaintiffs' two federal claims are barred by the Eleventh Amendment. Defendants acknowledge the Ex Parte Young
Defendants' arguments are meritless. First, Plaintiffs rightly point out that the Ex Parte Young exception applies to as-applied challenges to state statutes, not just facial challenges as Defendants imply. Here, Plaintiffs specifically challenge the application of Georgia's law by Defendants to require in-person voting by DRE. Second, Plaintiffs clearly allege an ongoing and continuous violation of federal law. The injunctive relief they request is designed to prevent injury by enjoining the use of DREs in upcoming elections and other future elections. Third, and likewise, Plaintiffs seek to remedy prospective harm.
Thus, pursuant to Ex Parte Young, the Court finds that the Eleventh Amendment does not bar Plaintiffs' federal claims.
IV. Plaintiffs' Motions for Preliminary Injunction
To obtain preliminary injunctive relief, the moving party must show that: (1) it has a substantial likelihood of success on the merits; (2) irreparable injury will be suffered unless the injunction issues; (3) the threatened injury to the movant out-weighs whatever damage the proposed injunction may cause the opposing party; and (4) if issued, the injunction would not be adverse to the public interest. McDonald's Corp. v. Robertson, 147 F.3d 1301, 1306 (11th Cir. 1998). In the Eleventh Circuit, "[a] preliminary injunction is an extraordinary and drastic remedy not to be granted unless the movant clearly established the `burden of persuasion' as to the four prerequisites." Id. (internal citations omitted).
Furthermore, the Supreme Court has recognized that there are special considerations involved with impending elections and the critical issues at stake. In Reynolds v. Sims, the Court stated:
377 U.S. 533, 585, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964); see also Purcell v. Gonzalez, 549 U.S. 1, 4-5, 127 S.Ct. 5, 166 L.Ed.2d 1 (2006) (holding that courts are "required to weigh, in addition to the harms attendant upon issuance or nonissuance of an injunction, considerations specific to election cases and its own institutional procedures").
Considering the totality of the evidence and affidavits presented at this juncture, the Court finds with a measure of true caution that Plaintiffs are likely to satisfy the first element for a preliminary injunction — a likelihood of success on the merits — for at least some of their claims. The Court's caution is that though the parties have filed endless briefs on Defendants' multiple motions to dismiss and amended complaints, largely due to Plaintiffs' changes in counsel, the case did not move substantively forward until the motions for preliminary injunction were filed in August 2018. The subject matter in this suit is complex, even if well-presented, and there is still key information that needs to be gathered. For instance, the voting system and data handling deficiencies in one county, Fulton County, could possibly impact all other counties in the state. The State also never called the Chief Information
That said, the Supreme Court has held that "[i]t is beyond cavil that voting is of the most fundamental significance under our constitutional structure." Burdick v. Takushi, 504 U.S. 428, 433, 112 S.Ct. 2059, 119 L.Ed.2d 245 (1992) (internal quotation marks omitted). The Court goes on to recognize that "[i]t does not follow [] that the right to vote in any manner and the right to associate for political purposes through the ballot are absolute." Id. Thus, courts apply a more flexible standard in this context:
Id. at 434, 112 S.Ct. 2059 (internal quotation marks omitted).
Here, Plaintiffs have shown that their Fourteenth Amendment rights to Due Process and Equal Protection have been burdened. Put differently, the State's continued reliance on the use of DRE machines in public elections likely results in "a debasement or dilution of the weight of [Plaintiffs'] vote[s]," even if such conduct does not completely deny Plaintiffs the right to vote. Bush v. Gore, 531 U.S. 98, 105, 121 S.Ct. 525, 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (2000) (quoting Reynolds, 377 U.S. at 555, 84 S.Ct. 1362).
Plaintiffs shine a spotlight on the serious security flaws and vulnerabilities in the State's DRE system — including unverifiable election results, outdated software susceptible to malware and viruses, and a central server that was already hacked multiple times. Mirroring the truncated affidavit statement of Merritt Beaver, the Chief Information Officer in the Office of the Secretary of State, the State Defendants' response brief merely states, without more, that the central server is no longer an issue because the way Kennesaw State University maintained the system "is not the way that those tasks are undertaken now." (See Response, Doc. 265 at 22; Beaver Affidavit, Doc. 265-1.) The Defendants presented no witness with actual computer science engineering and forensic expertise at the preliminary injunction hearing to address the impact of the Kennesaw State University breach or the specifics of any forensic evaluation of the servers, DREs, removable media used for transfer of data, analog phone modems, and other connected devices that together constitute the election system. The Defendants' response brief is close to non-responsive
Michael Barnes, the Director of the CES at Kennesaw State University,
As discussed earlier, the Curling Plaintiffs' voting-systems cybersecurity expert, Alex Halderman, demonstrated at the hearing how malware could be introduced into a DRE machine via a memory card and actually change an elector's vote without anyone knowing. (See also DeMillo Affidavit, Doc. 277 Ex. C; Buell Affidavit, Doc. 260-3; Bernhard Affidavit, Doc. 258-1 at 33-42.) Additionally, Professor Halderman explained in his testimony in detail the reasons why the DRE auditing and confirmation of results process used by state officials on a sample basis is generally of limited value. This process is keyed to matching the total ballots cast, without any independent source of individual ballot validation, and it can be defeated by malware similar to that used by the Volkswagen emissions software that concealed a car's actual emissions data during testing. (Halderman testimony at hearing; Halderman Affidavit, Doc. 260-2 ¶¶ 35-48; see also DeMillo Affidavit, Doc. 277, Ex. C ¶¶ 10-20.) Further, parallel testing of DREs is of limited value. "If the testing reveals, at the close of the election, that the machines were counting incorrectly, there will likely be no way to recover the true results, since the machines used in Georgia have no paper backup records." (Halderman Affidavit, Doc. 260-2 ¶ 41.)
Plaintiffs also emphasize current cybersecurity developments regarding election
Defendants assert that the state election laws at issue are "narrowly drawn to effect the State's regulatory interest in maintaining fair, honest and efficient elections." (Response, Doc. 265 at 15.) This conclusory re-statement of an overarching principle of Fourteenth Amendment voting jurisprudence
As the Court noted at the preliminary injunction hearing, rapidly evolving cybertechnology changes and challenges have altered the reality now facing electoral voting systems and Georgia's system in particular. And it is this reality that Plaintiffs substantiated with expert affidavits and testimony as well as an array of voter affidavits and documentation. Defendants sidestep the fact that Georgia is only one of five states that rely on a DRE voting process that generates no independent paper ballot or audit record. Yet the Plaintiffs' evidence as to the problems of security, accuracy, reliability, and currency of Georgia's system and software have hardly been rebutted by Defendants except via characterizations of the issues raised as entirely hypothetical and baseless. Ultimately, an electoral system must be accurate and trustworthy. The State's apparent asserted interest in maintaining the DRE system without significant change cannot by itself justify the burden and risks imposed given the circumstances presented. Burdick, 504 U.S. at 434, 112 S.Ct. 2059.
Plaintiffs are substantially likely to succeed on the merits of one or more of their constitutional claims, though this finding is a cautious, preliminary one, especially in light of the initial state of the record. Plaintiffs have so far shown that the DRE system, as implemented, poses a concrete risk of alteration of ballot counts that would impact their own votes. Their evidence relates directly to the manner in which Defendants' alleged mode of implementation
531 U.S. 98, 104-05, 121 S.Ct. 525, 148 L.Ed.2d 388 (2000) (internal citations omitted).
The Defendants rely on Wexler v. Anderson, 452 F.3d 1226 (11th Cir. 2006) in maintaining that Plaintiffs cannot establish the viability of their Fourteenth Amendment claims described above. But Wexler and this case are distinguishable. The Eleventh Circuit noted that the Wexler plaintiffs "did not plead that voters in touchscreen counties are less likely to cast effective votes due to the alleged lack of a meaningful manual recount procedure in those counties," and therefore their "burden is the mere possibility that should they cast residual ballots, those ballots will receive a different, and allegedly inferior, type of review in the event of a manual recount." Id. at 1226. Wexler distinguishes this situation from the one in Stewart v. Blackwell, 444 F.3d at 868-72, where strict scrutiny was applied based on the plaintiffs' allegations of "vote dilution due to disparate use of certain voting technologies." 444 F.3d at 871. Thus, in contrast with Stewart, the Eleventh Circuit in Wexler did not apply strict scrutiny and instead reviewed "Florida's manual recount procedures to determine if they are justified by the State's `important regulatory interests.'" Wexler, 452 F.3d at 1233 (citing Burdick, 504 U.S. at 434, 112 S.Ct. 2059)).
Here, Plaintiffs appear to present facts that fall somewhere between Wexler and Stewart. Unlike Wexler, Plaintiffs are alleging that they are less likely to be able to cast accurate or effective ballots when voting by DRE. The evidence here is not as well developed as that in Stewart, which was decided on a fully factually developed summary judgment record. Still, Plaintiffs in this case have presented sufficient evidence so far that their votes cast by DRE may be altered, diluted, or effectively not counted on the same terms as someone using another voting method — or that there is a serious risk of this under the circumstances.
Turning to the second element for a preliminary injunction, the Court also finds that Plaintiffs have demonstrated a real risk of suffering irreparable injury without court intervention. This analysis to
Finally, the Court considers together the last two factors in evaluating whether preliminary injunctive relief should be granted: whether the threatened injury to the movant outweighs whatever damage the proposed injunction may cause the opposing party; and, if issued, whether the injunction would not be adverse to the public interest. The Court considers these factors in tandem, as the real question posed in this context is how injunctive relief at this eleventh-hour would impact the public interest in an orderly and fair election, with the fullest voter participation possible and an accurate count of the ballots cast.
This assessment involves a true catch-22.
While Plaintiffs have shown the threat of real harms to their constitutional interests, the eleventh-hour timing of their motions and an instant grant of the paper ballot relief requested could just as readily jeopardize the upcoming elections, voter turnout, and the orderly administration of the election. Defendants introduced substantial evidence from Elections Directors from counties with major populations (e.g., Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Muscogee, and Richmond Counties) regarding the fiscal, organizational, and practical impediments and burdens associated with a court order that would require immediate implementation of paper ballot and ballot scanning voting systems for the 2018 election cycle. (See Testimony of Richard Barron at Preliminary Injunction Hearing; Doc. 265-3; Doc. 265-6.) Various representatives of the Secretary of State's office provided testimony regarding similar organizational and fiscal challenges. Some of these concerns, such as authority for emergency purchase orders of ballot paper or scanners, clearly are resolvable based on emergency purchase provisions under state and local law. The Court's greater concern, in considering the evidence, is that the massive scrambling required to implement such injunctive relief in roughly 2,600 precincts and 159 countries will seriously test the organizational capacity of the personnel handling the election, to the detriment of Georgia voters.
Plaintiffs have submitted evidence from various jurisdictions in other states of their ability to smoothly roll out a paper ballot/optical scanning system in an expedited time frame as well an affidavit from the administrator overseeing Maryland's transition over an expedited, but still far longer, time frame. The challenges presented in these jurisdictions are not comparable to managing a rapid implementation of a balloting system, associated technology, and administrative transition in less than seven weeks on a statewide basis in large population centers as well as tiny ones simultaneously. Nor is it likely simple to roll out a paper ballot system with proper, efficient scanning, when many polling station personnel throughout the state have never handled this scope of a paper ballot exercise — or used accompanying scanners on a massive basis.
Further, early elections begin mid-October. This poses an even earlier deadline for action and organization. Fulton County's Elections Director testified that the County would only be able to cope with the challenges of an immediate ballot requirement by limiting early voting to one central location, rather than offering it at 20
Ultimately, any chaos or problems that arise in connection with a sudden rollout of a paper ballot system with accompanying scanning equipment may swamp the polls with work and voters — and result in voter frustration and disaffection from the voting process. There is nothing like bureaucratic confusion and long lines to sour a citizen. And that description does not even touch on whether voters themselves, many of whom may never have cast a paper ballot before, will have been provided reasonable materials to prepare them for properly executing the paper ballots.
The Court attempted to expedite this case at earlier times to no avail. The Court understands some of the reasons why Plaintiffs may have been unable to file a preliminary injunction motion before new counsel for the Coalition Plaintiffs filed a Third Amended Complaint in June 2018. But the August filing of their motion for preliminary injunction effectively put the squeeze on their proposed remedial relief. Requiring injunctive relief on this broad of a scale, and on an abrupt, time-limited basis, would likely undermine a paper ballot initiative with a scanned audit trail that appears in reality to be critically needed.
Meanwhile, the State Defendants have also stood by for far too long, given the mounting tide of evidence of the inadequacy and security risks of Georgia's DRE voting system and software. The Court is gravely concerned about the State's pace in responding to the serious vulnerabilities of its voting system — which were raised as early as 2016 — while aging software arrangements, hardware, and other deficiencies were evident still earlier. The Secretary of State's Secure, Accessible, & Fair Elections (SAFE) Commission has held just two meetings since its establishment in April 2018, though it is tasked with making recommendations to the legislature that convenes in January 2019. The State and the County's arguments about the time and resource constraints at issue, in the event the Court granted the requested injunctive relief, are compelling right now, with the November election just weeks away. But these arguments only weaken the more that time passes and if Defendants continue to move in slow motion or take ineffective or no action. For upcoming elections after November 2018, Defendants are forewarned that these same arguments would hold much less sway in the future — as any timing issues then would appear to be exclusively of Defendants' own making at that point.
Upon considering the totality of the evidence in connection with the four factors that must guide the Court's determination regarding the grant of extraordinary relief as to Plaintiffs' constitutional claims, the Court finds that the Plaintiffs have not carried their burden of persuasion to establish these prerequisites for such extraordinary injunctive relief in the immediate 2018 election time frame ahead.
V. Conclusion
While Plaintiffs' motions for preliminary injunction [Docs. 258, 260, 271] are
A wound or reasonably threatened wound to the integrity of a state's election system carries grave consequences beyond the results in any specific election, as it pierces citizens' confidence in the electoral system and the value of voting.
Advanced persistent threats in this data-driven world and ordinary hacking are unfortunately here to stay. Defendants will fail to address that reality if they demean as paranoia the research-based findings of national cybersecurity engineers and experts in the field of elections. Nor will surface-level audit procedures address this reality when viruses and malware alter data results and evade or suppress detection. The parties have strongly intimated that this case is headed for immediate appeal. But if the case stays with or comes back to this Court, the Court will insist on further proceedings moving on an expedited schedule. The 2020 elections are around the corner. If a new balloting system is to be launched in Georgia in an effective manner, it should address democracy's critical need for transparent, fair, accurate, and verifiable election processes that guarantee each citizen's fundamental right to cast an accountable vote.
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