Dominion Voting System Challenge Tossed After A Year Wait

Law360 (April 1, 2025, 9:26 PM EDT) — More than a year after a 17-day bench trial in early 2024, a Georgia federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the state’s electronic in-person voting system, finding the plaintiffs lacked standing to assert they were injured by the use of the devices.

In an order on Monday, U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg dismissed a lawsuit in which multiple Georgia voters and the nonprofit Coalition for Good Governance alleged that using the state’s electronic in-person voting system — namely, the use of Dominion Voting Systems’ ballot-marking devices — carried a risk that their ballot would be inaccurately counted.

The voters and nonprofit were hoping to stop Georgia’s use of the ballot-marking devices and replace them with a hand- marked paper ballot system that they felt would be more accurate. However, Judge Totenberg said Monday that they lacked standing to pursue their claims because the injuries they claimed to suffer as a result of the machines’ use did not “constitute an invasion of a legally protected interest under governing precedent.”

The ballot-marking devices at issue use a QR code, printed on the paper ballots submitted by voters, to count the selections that are made on electronic voting machines. The voters and nonprofit argued at trial that use of the codes makes it impossible for voters to confirm their votes were accurately reflected. Voters also suffered, they argued, because the ballots printed by the voting machines include only a summary of their selections, which makes it even more difficult to verify the choices tallied were the ones they intended to make. But, “although some voters may find the voting process challenging,” Judge Totenberg said neither of those allegations implicates “established legally protected interests.”

“Plaintiffs do not claim that Georgia’s use of a QR code for the tabulation of in-person ballots prevents the individual plaintiffs of the [Coalition for Good Governance] members from voting, dilutes their votes, or prevents their votes from being counted,” Judge Totenberg said. “Although plaintiffs have capably, thoughtfully, and diligently pursued their opposition to Georgia’s use of the [ballot-marking devices] system, the court cannot consider the merits of their claims without such a legally cognizable injury. “

Judge Totenberg noted that the ballot review process “could certainly be more user-friendly” and acknowledged that federal courts are “unable to address every critique of a state’s chosen voting system.” However, the judge also noted that the voters and nonprofit have shown dedication to ensuring Georgia’s elections are conducted in a “transparent, safe, and reliable manner.” And that advocacy work, she said, has “sparked real legislative action” in the form of Senate Bill 189.S.B. 189, which is slated to take effect June 1, 2026, promises to effectively eliminate the use of QR codes on ballot- marking devices and instead use the human-readable text on a voters’ printed ballot for tabulation and auditing purposes.S.B. 189 also made it possible for counties to use hand-marked paper ballots for certain special elections as of Jan. 1.

“If these legislative measures are ultimately funded and implemented, they are the type of timely legislative action that can bolster public confidence in the management and security of Georgia’s voting system,” Judge Totenberg said. “Through litigation and other means, plaintiffs no doubt played a part in prompting these changes.”

Judge Totenberg’s ruling comes after a nearly monthlong bench trial in January 2024, during which voting rights activists argued that the ballot-marking devices were unreliable, vulnerable to hacking and harder to audit than hand-marked paper ballots used by voters in other parts of the country.

State election officials, on the other hand, argued at trial that hacking of the machines would be nearly impossible in any real-life scenario due to the presence of poll workers trained to spot bad actors, and they pushed back on allegations that hand-marked paper ballots would provide any greater assurance that votes were being counted as cast. Even with hand- marked paper ballots, attorneys for the state argued, things like errant markings could lead to votes being calculated incorrectly.

The now-dismissed lawsuit was first filed in 2017 and targeted the outdated, paperless voting system used by the state at that time. After a new system was purchased in 2019, the voting rights advocates amended the suit to target that system.

Counsel for the parties did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

The state election officials are represented by Vincent R. Russo, Josh Belinfante, Carey A. Miller, Alexander Denton, Edward Bedard, Javier Pico-Prats, Anna Edmondson and Melanie Leigh Johnson of Robbins Alloy Belinfante Littlefield LLC, and Bryan P. Tyson, Bryan F. Jacoutot and Diane F. LaRoss of Clark Hill PLC.

The Coalition for Good Governance is represented by Bruce P. Brown of Bruce P. Brown Law LLC, Robert A. McGuire III of Robert McGuire Law Firm, Russell T. Abney of Watts Guerra LLP, Cary Ichter of Ichter Davis LLC, and Eric R. Havian of Whistleblower Partners LLP.

The voters are represented by David D. Cross, Benjamin E. Campbell and Mary G. Kaiser of Goodwin Procter LLP, Aaron Heath Scheinman, Reiley Jo Porter, Ramsey W. Fisher, Tamara Raquel Wiesebron, Robert W. Manoso of Morrison Foerster LLP, Halsey G. Knapp Jr., Jessica G. Cino and Adam M. Sparks of Krevolin & Horst LLC, Cary Ichter of Ichter Davis LLC, Christian Gabriel Andreu-von Euw of The Business Litigation Group PC, William Brent Ney of Ney Rhein LLC, and Robert A. McGuire III of Robert McGuire Law Firm.

The case is Curling et al. v. Raffensperger et al., case number 1:17-cv-02989, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

–Editing by Michael Watanabe