Peach Tree Times

Voter group VoterGA is asking Georgia lawmakers to block Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s plan to outsource the state’s voter registration system by moving it to the internet cloud.

Garland Favorito, co-founder of VoterGA, said voter registration lists are vulnerable to cyberattacks under Raffensperger’s plan.

“There is no technical or business reason to do this,” Favorito said at a Monday news conference.

Raffensperger’s office announced in mid-January that it was working with private firms Salesforce and MTX Group to increase security surrounding the voter lists.

“Since day one, I have taken action to secure the vote in Georgia,” Raffensperger said at the time. “This partnership with Salesforce and MTX Group will help ensure Georgia’s voting system is secure, reliable, efficient for years to come.”

His office said that the new Georgia Registered Voter Information System (GRVIS), “will sit on secure, Salesforce servers using cloud technology services authorized by the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) at the highest level of security.”

Without any proof, former President Donald Trump said voter irregularities and fraud caused him to become the first Republican presidential candidate to lose Georgia since 1992. He phoned Raffensperger, asking him to "find 10,780 votes" so that Trump could carry the Peach State.

Favorito said that cloud-based computing was less, not more secure in keeping voter lists in house. He pointed to a class action suit, since settled, against Salesforce and San Francisco-based clothing retailer Hanna Andersson over the theft of credit card and other personal information in 2019 of 200,000 store customers. The personal information was sold on the dark web due to a data breach. Under the terms of the settlement, Hanna Andersson was required to implement stricter cybersecurity protocols.

Favorito also noted that Salesforce is based on Amazon Web Services, which de-platformed Parler, a rival to Twitter, “just as it gained significant market share and became a threat to larger social media platforms.” 

Salesforce also opposed Senate Bill 202, the sweeping election reform law signed by Gov. Brian Kemp in March 2021, a move “in direct conflict with the Georgia Legislature.”

Among other changes to the law, SB 202 requires an ID for an absentee ballot and limits the number of drop boxes for collection of mail ballots. The Department of Justice sued Georgia over the law, alleging it violates Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting practices that discriminate on the basis of color.

A call to the secretary of state's office for reaction to the VoterGA news conference was not returned.