On September 6, during the talk-show “Political Night” on TV Company “Obiektivi”, Nana Devdariani, head of the “Global Research Center”, stated that the electronic system of voting in the U.S. allows any person to go to the supermarket, buy plastic cards – then get into the system and do whatever they want.
This statement is not true, because:
Like in Georgia and other countries, in the United States, in order to vote on elections it is necessary to identify the voter on the basis of a state-issued identification document.
According to the laws of various States, such documents include:
- State – issued identification cards;
- Driver’s license;
- Handgun license;
- Military identification card;
- Birth certificate;
- Or any other state-issued document which allows identifying the voter.
If a citizen does not have any identification documents to show, there are some alternative ways which are divided into two groups:
Strict – voters can vote on a provisional ballot. After Election Day, such voters are required to return to an election office within a few days and present ID. If the voter does not come back to show ID, the results of provisional ballot is not counted;
Non-Strict – in some States, if a voter fails to show any document to confirm his/her identity, a voter may sign an affidavit of identity.
Electronic voting practice
Electronic voting is an approved practice in many countries like: Switzerland, the U.S, Norway, Germany, Canada, Belgium, Romania, UK, Estonia, France, Brazil, Australia.Electronic voting uses electronic ballots to vote. Special electronic machines with high security systems are used to register, record and count votes electronically. It also includes E-voting. In any case, voters are required to register the data which confirms their identity.
Nana Devdariani was Public Defender of Georgia during 2000-2003. Before 2003 Rose Revolution, Nana Devdariani was the chairwoman of Central Election Commission during 2003 parliamentary elections. In 2013, together with Ioseb Archvadze and Maia Chubinashvili, Nana Devdariani founded the “Global research Center”. According to the report of the IDFI’s project damoukidebloba.com, this organization encourages Anti-western sentiments and very often replicates the opinions and analysis of the pro-Russian NGO “Eurasian Institute”. In the report of Media Development Foundation (MDF) – Anti-western Propaganda, Nana Devdariani frequently appears as one of the source of Anti-western sentiments.
In 2016 parliamentary elections, Nana Devdariani is named as the sixth member among top ten members of the election list of “Nino Burjanadze – Democratic movement”.
