Georgia
Is Georgia's election system constitutional? A federal judge will decide in trial set to begin
ATLANTA (AP) — Election integrity activists want a federal judge to order Georgia to stop using its current election system, saying it’s vulnerable to attack and has operational issues that could cost voters their right to cast a vote and have it accurately counted.
During a trial set to start Tuesday, activists plan to argue that the Dominion Voting Systems touchscreen voting machines are so flawed they are unconstitutional. Election officials insist the system is secure and reliable and say it is up to the state to decide how it conducts elections.
Georgia has become a pivotal electoral battleground in recent years with national attention focused on its elections. The election system used statewide by nearly all in-person voters includes touchscreen voting machines that print ballots with a human-readable summary of voters’ selections and a QR code that a scanner reads to count the votes.
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The activists say the state should switch to hand-marked paper ballots tallied by scanners and also needs much more robust post-election audits than are currently in place. U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg, who’s overseeing the long-running case, said in an October order that she cannot order the state to use hand-marked paper ballots. But activists say prohibiting the use of the touchscreen machines would effectively force the use of hand-marked paper ballots because that’s the emergency backup provided for in state law.
Wild conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines proliferated in the wake of the 2020 election, spread by allies of former President Donald Trump who said they were used to steal the election from him. The election equipment company has fought back aggressively with litigation, notably reaching a $787 million settlement with Fox News in April.
The trial set to begin Tuesday stems from a lawsuit that long predates those claims. It was originally filed in 2017 by several individual voters and the Coalition for Good Governance, which advocates for election integrity, and targeted the outdated, paperless voting system used at the time.
Totenberg in August 2019 prohibited the state from using the antiquated machines beyond that year. The state had agreed to purchase new voting machines from Dominion a few weeks earlier and scrambled to deploy them ahead of the 2020 election cycle. Before the machines were distributed statewide, the activists amended their lawsuit to take aim at the new system.
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They argue the system has serious security vulnerabilities that could be exploited without detection and that the state has done little to address those problems. Additionally, voters cannot be sure their votes are accurately recorded because they cannot read the QR code, they say. And the voting machines’ large, upright screens make it easy to see a voter’s selections, violating the right to ballot secrecy, they say.
Lawyers for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger wrote in a recent court filing that he “vigorously disputes” the activists’ claims and “strongly believes” their case is “legally and factually meritless.”
Experts engaged by the activists have said they’ve seen no evidence that any vulnerabilities have been exploited to change the outcome of an election, but they say the concerns need to be addressed immediately to protect future elections.
One of them, University of Michigan computer scientist J. Alex Halderman, examined a machine from Georgia and wrote a lengthy report detailing vulnerabilities that he said bad actors could use to attack the system. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, in June 2022 released an advisory based on Halderman’s findings that urged jurisdictions that use the machines to quickly mitigate the vulnerabilities.
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During a hearing in May, a lawyer for the state told the judge physical security elements recommended by CISA were “largely in place.” But the secretary of state’s office has said a software update from Dominion is too cumbersome to install before the 2024 elections.
The fact that the voting system software and data was uploaded to a server and shared with an unknown number of people after unauthorized people accessed election equipment in January 2021 makes it even easier to plan an attack on the system, Halderman has said. That breach at the elections office in rural Coffee County was uncovered and exposed by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
A sprawling Fulton County racketeering indictment against Trump and 18 others included charges against four people related to Coffee County. Two of them, including Trump-allied lawyer Sidney Powell, have pleaded guilty after reaching deals with prosecutors.
In several rulings during the litigation, Totenberg has made clear that she has concerns about the voting system. But she wrote in October that the activists “carry a heavy burden to establish a constitutional violation” connected to the voting system or its implementation.
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David Cross, a lawyer for some of the individual voters, said the judge has only seen a sliver of their evidence so far. He said he believes she’ll find in their favor, but he doesn’t expect to see any changes before Georgia’s presidential primary in March. He said changes might be possible before the general election in November if Totenberg rules quickly.
“We’re hopeful but we recognize it’s an uphill fight for 2024, just on the timing,” he said, acknowledging the likelihood that the state would appeal any ruling in the activists’ favor.
Marilyn Marks, executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, was similarly optimistic ahead of trial: “We have the facts and the science and the law on our side, and really the state has no defense.”
A representative for Raffensperger didn’t respond to multiple requests to interview someone in his office ahead of the trial.
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The activists had planned to call the secretary of state to testify. They wanted to ask why he chose a voting system that uses QR codes that aren’t readable by voters. They also believe his office has failed to investigate or to implement proper safeguards after the Coffee County breach and wanted to ask him about it under oath.
The judge ordered him to appear over the objections of his lawyers. But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled he doesn’t have to testify, citing his status as as top official and saying the plaintiffs didn’t show his testimony was necessary.
“This trial bears heavily on the public interest, and voters deserve to hear from Secretary Raffensperger in the trial. It’s a travesty that they won’t,” Cross said. “And it’s unfair to our clients who need answers to questions at trial that only he can provide.”
Georgia
Dry Leaf review – three-hour amble around the football pitches of Georgia in search of a daughter
Georgian film-maker Alexandre Koberidze appeared to revive the spirit of the French New Wave with his previous film What Do We See When We Look at the Sky? – an unhurried, meandering and garrulous movie with its own cheeky sort of low-tech magic realism as it followed its nose around the city of Kutaisi. His new film is a mystifying three-hour road movie, shot (as was his debut film Let the Summer Never Come Again) on low-res video, like that of an obsolete cameraphone. It is even more challenging and I have to admit it defeated me, despite some intriguing qualities, including a dry touch of comedy.
A middle-aged man called Irakli (David Koberidze) receives a letter addressed to him and his wife, Nino (Irina Chelidze), from their twentysomething photographer daughter Lisa, announcing that she wishes to disappear from their lives. A police officer tells them that Lisa is an adult who can do what she likes. But an oddly emotionless Irakli sets out to track her down anyway, even though another more conventionally plausible movie would have found room for a conversation about the cost of a private detective. Lisa was photographing football fields when she vanished, so Irakli’s plan is just to drive around the country’s football fields, asking people nearby if they’ve seen her. The result is many desultory conversations with people who are apparently nonprofessional actors.
With Irakli in the car is Lisa’s friend Levani who is … invisible. We hear him. We don’t see him. (The same goes for some of the people that Irakli talks to.) This invisibility creates a baffling extra level of oddity and contrivance to this film, which, for me, added and created nothing. As a formal experiment, Dry Leaf has its own conviction and self-possession and there is a deliberate, if opaque artistry here: one shot shows us a dry leaf under Irakli’s car-tyres, another gives us wet leaves in a waterfall. The soft-edged, pixelated look is, however, interesting and surprisingly watchable, bringing a kind of painterly effect.
Georgia
Georgia lawmakers to return for special session focused on redistricting, election system deadline
Georgia lawmakers are set to return to the State Capitol on June 17 for a special legislative session that is likely to shape both the state’s political map and how votes are counted in upcoming elections.
Gov. Brian Kemp called the session primarily to address congressional redistricting following recent court developments ahead of the 2028 election cycle. But lawmakers are also facing pressure to resolve an election administration issue involving the state’s voting system before a special congressional election scheduled later this summer.
The dispute stems from legislation passed in 2024 that prohibited Georgia from using QR codes as the official method of tabulating votes after July 1, 2026.
At the time, supporters argued the change would increase transparency by relying on vote selections that voters can directly read rather than machine-generated barcodes. However, lawmakers never approved a replacement system before the deadline arrived.
Georgia currently uses touchscreen ballot-marking devices that print a paper ballot containing both a human-readable summary of a voter’s choices and a QR code. Election scanners use the QR code to tabulate votes.
Earlier this year, state senators considered Senate Bill 568, a wider election proposal that included changes to voting technology and election administration. The measure ultimately failed to advance before the General Assembly adjourned, leaving state officials without a obvious course ahead as the July deadline approaches.
The issue has become more urgent because a special election to fill the remainder of late U.S. Rep. David Scott’s congressional term is scheduled for July 28, with early voting beginning July 6.
Adding to the uncertainty, Georgia’s Secretary of State’s Office and the State Election Board have issued conflicting guidance on how counties should proceed if lawmakers do not act.
The Secretary of State’s Office has proposed a process that would continue using existing voting machines while relying on software to tabulate votes based on the human-readable text printed on ballots rather than QR codes. Meanwhile, the State Election Board has argued that the approach is not authorized under current law and has directed counties to prepare to use hand-marked paper ballots and optical scanners as an emergency backup if the deadline remains in place.
State election officials and county administrators have warned that the conflicting instructions could create confusion for local election offices and potentially invite litigation if the issue is not resolved before voting begins. Henry County election officials, whose voters will participate in the upcoming congressional special election, have said they are awaiting additional guidance from the state.
According to AP, a possible outcome of the special session would be for lawmakers to extend the QR-code deadline, allowing Georgia to continue using its current system through upcoming elections while state leaders consider longer-term changes. Another possibility would be adopting a new tabulation process before the deadline takes effect, though election administrators have brought up concerns about implementing significant changes so close to an active election cycle.
While congressional redistricting is expected to dominate much of the political debate during the special session, the election equipment issue could have more immediate consequences for voters heading to the polls later this summer.
Lawmakers are expected to begin work when the special session convenes on June 17 at the Georgia State Capitol.
Oregon’s Simeon Birnbaum reacts to winning NCAA 1,500-meter title
Oregon distance runner Simeon Birnbaum took home a national title in the men’s 1,500 at Hayward Field. Here’s what he said after the race.
For the second time in three days, Georgia’s Adaejah Hodge took down a collegiate record.
This one carried a bit of extra weight with it.
Hodge, a freshman, won the NCAA outdoor track and field 200-meter national title in a personal-best 21.68 seconds, shattering former Kentucky standout Abby Steiner’s long-standing mark of 21.80, June 13 at Hayward Field. That performance set the tone for the Bulldogs, who won the national title with 50 points.
“I’ve been working for this all my life,” Hodge said. “I really wanted this one. So, I went out there and I got it.”
Earlier this week, Hodge generated plenty of fireworks when she took down the 100 collegiate record — and clocked the fifth-fastest time in world history — in 10.63. In Saturday’s final, though, Florida State’s Shenese Walker stole the show, winning in 10.88. Hodge was second (10.93).
Approximately 45 minutes later, Hodge came back and won her favorite event in dominant fashion. LSU’s Shawnti Jackson was second in 22.12, nearly half a second behind Hodge.
The frustration from her 100 loss wasn’t used for fuel, Hodge said. She didn’t need any extra motivation to bounce back.
Although she was running her sixth race in three days, she had plenty left in the tank.
“Actually, no, I wasn’t,” Hodge said when asked if she was upset about the outcome of the 100. “In track and field, you’ve got to learn how to compartmentalize. I think I did a great job of forgetting the 100, coming back and running my heart out in the (200). … It was definitely just about going back, like, ‘Hey, it is what it is. It’s all part of God’s plan. Move forward to the next event.’ That just shows my maturity in the sport.”
Hodge was far from the only athlete who etched her name in the record books on the final day of the meet.
Fellow Bulldog Dejanea Oakley toppled the 400 record in 48.79, toppling the previous mark of 48.89 set by Arkansas’ Nickisha Pryce in 2004. USC runner-up Madison Whyte (48.97) and Tennessee’s Javonya Valcourt (third, 50.16) also ran personal-best times.
Oakley was the 400 runner-up at the 2025 outdoor national championships.
“All I can say is that we’ve been working toward this,” Oakley said. “Even this morning, me and my coach were going through a visualization of this race. Just going, ‘You can get this collegiate record. Just go out there and do what you’ve been doing during practice and it will come.’ To see it actually come to fruition, like, I wasn’t surprised. We’ve been doing it in practice.”
Before the meet came to a close, Arkansas senior Sanu Jallow delivered another jaw-dropping, record-breaking run. The Razorbacks star smashed Athing Mu’s 800 collegiate record with a winning time of 1:56.85. Penn State’s Hayley Kitching took second in a rapid field; the top six finishers clocked personal bests.
“I didn’t want to just break it; I wanted to shatter the record,” Jallow said. “Breaking it is cool; like, ‘Oh my god, I broke the record!’ But I wanted to make a statement. I wanted to make it a stamp.”
Jallow joked that an 800 race doesn’t truly begin for her until the second lap. She put the rest of the field on notice from the get-go, splitting 55.03 over the opening 400.
From there, she dug deep and delivered a performance for the ages.
“It’s not that painful until you get to the last 150 (meters),” Jallow said. “That’s when the monkey starts jumping on you and you have to go after everything. I honestly felt good.”
Controversial finish in loaded 5,000 field
What was expected to be the highlight of the final day of the outdoor championships devolved into a nervy waiting game — and eventually heartbreak — for one of the great distance runners in collegiate history.
Alabama junior Doris Lemngole, a Kenyan national with five NCAA titles to her name, won in 15:11.71. In the moments following her victory, though, she was disqualified for ‘taking two-plus steps over the rail.’
Following a 45-minute appeal process, the decision was upheld. Lemngole was disqualified, and New Mexico sophomore Marion Jepngetich, who finished second in a personal-best 15:13.01, was declared the winner.
“I have nothing to say right now,” Lemngole said in a prepared statement. “It is what it is. I’m proud of myself, proud of my school and my career.”
Lemngole and an Alabama athletic spokesperson declined to answer further questions following the athlete’s statement.
BYU freshman Jane Hedengren, the 5K collegiate record-holder, was in the field but faded with 800 meters to go and finished ninth in 15:22.88. After orchestrating a thrilling 10k win on the opening day of the meet, Iowa State freshman Mercyline Kirwa took second in 15:13.72.
New Mexico sophomore Pamela Kosgei, the 2025 5K and 10K NCAA outdoor champion, was fifth in 15:15.88.
BYU’s Taylor Lovell nabs long-awaited steeplechase title
Brigham Young University has a rich history of producing national champion-caliber steeplechasers.
On Saturday, Taylor Lovell added her name to this list.
Lovell, a BYU senior, knifed through a strong wind and left nothing to doubt as she clocked a 3,000 steeplechase personal best of 9:21.03 to claim a long-awaited national title. She finished more than five seconds ahead of Notre Dame’s Sophie Novak, who placed second.
“I’m so proud,” Lovell said. “I have so many people before me and with me that I’m so grateful I get to keep doing it with them and continue that legacy.”
After finishing ninth in both 2024 and 2025, Lovell sat on Novak’s hip until the bell lap before unleashing a ferocious kick that put her in control of the race for good.
Lovell is the fifth BYU woman to ever win an outdoor 3K steeplechase title. She joins Lexy Halladay-Lowry (9:08.68) and Courtney Wayment (9:16.0) on the top-10 all-time collegiate leaderboard for the event.
“It’s really exciting to be able to continue a legacy like that,” Lovell said.
Lemngole is the fastest steeplechaser in NCAA history. But the star junior did not race the steeple this week, choosing instead to focus her efforts on the 5K.
That did not alter Lovell’s gameplan coming into the meet.
“I just wanted to come out better than I went in,” Lovell said. “Whether or not she was in the steeplechase, that was still my goal.”
- Florida junior Alida Van Daalen secured a dominant win in the discus; on her third throw, the Dutch international hit a meet record 216-6. That was well ahead of Alabama junior Joyce Oguama, who took second (196-9). Oregon freshman Marie Josee Bovele Linaka was seventh (185-10).
- USC’s 4×100 relay crew won with a blistering 41.58, good enough for a new 2026 collegiate lead. Trojans’ sophomore Mia Brahe-Pedersen, who starred at Lake Oswego in high school, ran the second leg.
- Washington State sophomore Rosemary Longisa cruised to victory in the 1,500, winning in 4:12.1 in a strategic race where no runner necessarily tried to push the pace. Oregon’s Juliet Cherubet (4:12.99) and Wilma Nielsen (4:13.40) were third and fourth, respectively.
- On her final attempt of the day, Clemson senior Shantae Foreman catapulted to the top of the triple jump podium. The Tigers’ standout produced a winning mark of 46-8 3/4 to move ahead of Oregon sophomore Sharifa Davronova, who took second (46-5 1/4).
- Oregon senior Aaliyah McCormick nabbed her second consecutive 100 hurdles national title with a winning time of 12.47.
- Texas Tech junior Temitope Adeshina won the high jump with a season-best leap of 6-5. Illinois’ Rose Yeboah was second; she also cleared 6-5, but Adeshina required fewer attempts to get over the bar.
- Washington sophomore Sofia Cosculluela emerged as the heptathlon champion. She tallied a winning score of 6,182 points, finishing comfortably ahead of Cincinnati’s Juliette Laracuente-Huebner (6,084). Cosculluela moved ahead of Laracuente-Huebner when she won the long jump, the sixth event of the meet, with a mark of 21-43/4. She sealed the victory with a second-place finish in the javelin (144-7).
- South Carolina junior Akala Garrett won the 400 hurdles in a personal-best 53.32.
2026 NCAA women’s outdoor championships team standings
1) Georgia 50; 2) Florida 43; 3) Arkansas 38; 4) Oregon 36; 5) USC 32; 6) Iowa State 30; 7) Washington 28; 8) Illinois 27
Jarrid Denney is a sports reporter for The Register-Guard. He can be reached at jdenney@registerguard.com or on X @jarrid_denney
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