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Board unanimously initiates rulemaking to require a paper 'numbered list of voters' as a local audit record
Summary
Member Johnson presented a petition requiring a contemporaneous paper numbered list of voters at each polling place; the board voted unanimously to initiate rulemaking to require the paper list as a paper audit backup and reconciliation tool.
Member Johnson presented a petition asking the State Election Board to add a definition of a "numbered list of voters" to the rules and to require that election officials maintain a contemporaneous, paper numbered list of voters (consecutively numbered blank spaces for insertion of voter names at the time of ballot issuance).
Johnson argued the paper list is a statutorily referenced election document (cited multiple times in chapter 21 of the OCGA), provides a paper backup if electronic poll books or ballot images are lost or corrupted, and is necessary to reconcile ballots and to preserve an auditable paper trail.
Board members asked clarifying questions about privacy and the risk that very small precincts could make it easier to infer how specific people voted; Johnson and supporters replied that the numbered list contains no direct link to the paper ballot and that ballots are mixed in the ballot box, making direct identification impractical. Petitioners noted that other safeguards (how ballot images are named and handled) are already used to reduce the risk of linking a voter to a ballot image.
After discussion, the board voted unanimously to initiate formal rulemaking on the numbered‑list petition and to proceed with the required notice and Legislative Council filing. The board asked staff to prepare the rule filing for the formal 30‑day notice period and to publish the public comment schedule.
