Case 1:17-cv-02989-AT Document 579 Filed 08/15/19 Page 16 of 153
same in each county in this state and shall be provided to each county by the
state, as determined by the Secretary of State.”). As the counties are required to
use the same equipment as the State is required to use, Defendants do not argue,
and there is no basis to conclude that any relief ordered against the State as to the
required method of voting in future elections will not be enforceable against
Georgia’s counties.
In contrast, Georgia’s municipalities are not subject to the uniform
statewide voting equipment requirement, though many municipalities contract
with their county to conduct the municipal elections using the county equipment.
“When municipalities contract with their county to conduct the municipal
elections, the State Defendants perform the same actions as if the election were a
county, state, or national election.”13
(State Defs.’ Resp. to Court Order for
information regarding scope of 2019 elections, Doc. 537 at 2.) According to the
most recent information provided on July 25, 2019 by the State Defendants, there
are 386 scheduled elections for Fall 2019: 12 countywide elections; 275 municipal
elections run by counties; and 99 municipal elections run by municipalities. All
287 county-run elections are conducted on DREs. Of the 99 municipalityconducted elections, 70 are conducted on hand-marked paper ballots (tabulated
The State Defendants argued in an April 11, 2019 filing that “[i]f counties are unable to use
their existing election system to conduct municipal elections, they may choose not to enter into
contractual agreements with the affected municipalities, leaving the municipalities with limited
time to implement and fund an interim election system.” (Doc. 362 at 10.) This is pure
speculation and unsupported by any record evidence. The argument also ignores the reality
(based on the information provided to the State Defendants by the counties and municipalities
for the 386 scheduled elections thus far) that these intra-governmental agreements have already
been executed for the 2019 elections. Any existing contracts would have to be breached for the
State Defendants’ argument to work.
13
16
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents