This week the state of Georgia rolled out new voting machines in a trial run leading up to the national and statewide primaries and the general election next year. 

Bartow, Carroll, Catoosa, Decatur, Lowndes and Paulding County voters are taking the new touchscreen voting machines, that generate a trackable paper trail, out for a spin.

The test drive seems to be going even better, and smoother, than expected. 

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said, “We’ve been pleased that the performance in the field has matched what our tests and evaluations told us, that this system is a good one.” 

Voters seem to also like the new experience, according to surveys handed in by local election commissions. 

According to the state, the pilot program is also designed to see how well the poll workers in precincts across the state would adjust. While the technology is not radically different from the old system, there are some changes, including using printers, paper and scanners to count each ballot as it drops into a locked ballot box.

The General Assembly authorized and funded the replacement of the state’s aging voting machines during the 2019 legislative session. The Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems has so far delivered more than 6,000 touchscreen voting machines. Statewide roll out of the new machines will be in time for the March 24 presidential preference primary, Raffensperger has said. 

The new machines are expensive but safeguarding the electoral process in an open and transparent way is something that just had to happen. But new voting machines are not the only things that need to happen. It is no secret that Georgia has been embroiled in lawsuits because of perceived efforts to aggressively purge voter rolls and put a chill on voter turnout. Whether voter suppression is real or perceived, lawmakers should be doing everything under their power to increase voter turnout and promote robust elections.

The new machines are an important step in more secure, more transparent elections but the state still needs to address its ill-conceived “exact match” policies. Minor discrepancies on a driver’s license, Social Security card or voter registration form should not prevent legally registered voters from either casting a ballot or having their votes count in an election. 

Last year, exact match called into question the right to vote of more than 50,000 registered voters. That casts a cloud over our electoral process in Georgia. 

The General Assembly rewrote election law effectively requiring exact match and the Georgia General Assembly has the power to repeal and replace it and restore confidence in state elections. 

There has never been any evidence of widespread voter fraud in the state of Georgia. 

Educated, affluent, empowered voters are not going to be discouraged or dissuaded from going to the polls because the process is arduous, confusing or seems intrusive. However, new, first-time, less empowered would-be voters might be intimidated by a difficult process, a lot of hoops to jump through or even an environment where they simply don’t feel welcome.

State lawmakers should do all they can to encourage voter registration and turnout and do nothing to suppress legally registered voters from casting ballots on our new state-of-the-art, paper-trail-creating, fancy and shiny voting machines. 

CNHI Deputy National Editor Jim Zachary is the vice president of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation, CNHI’s regional editor for its Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas newspapers and editor of The Valdosta Daily Times.