Case 1:17-cv-02989-AT Document 579 Filed 08/15/19 Page 7 of 153 played out with the United States’ July 2018 criminal indictment of a host of Russian intelligence agents for conspiracy to hack into the computers of various state and county boards of election and their vendors as well as agents’ efforts during the 2016 election to identify election data system vulnerabilities through probing of county election websites in Georgia and two other states.7 Similarly, the record demonstrates the perilous vulnerability and unreliability of the State’s electronic voter registration system as well as its burdening of Georgia citizens’ right to cast a vote that reliably will be counted. All that said, the posture of the case is also markedly different than in September 2018. The Court concluded in its Order last year that although the Plaintiffs had established a likelihood of prevailing, the balancing of equities and public interest preliminary injunction factors weighed against granting an injunction at that late date because of the magnitude of the administrative and fiscal challenges posed by implementation of a paper ballot system in a statewide election in 2600 precincts and 159 counties. However, the Court forewarned the Defendants that their arguments as to administrative and resource constraints “would hold much less sway in the future” in post-2018 election cycles “if Defendants continue to move in slow motion or take ineffective or no action.” Curling, 334 F. Supp. 3d at 1327. See United States of America v. Viktor Borisovich Netyksho et al., Criminal No. 1:18-cr-215 ¶¶ 69, 75 (D.D.C., July 13, 2018). 7 7