One major safeguard against hackers tampering with the voting machines used in Bulloch County is the fact that the machines are not connected to the Internet, officials told concerned voters this week. “Our equipment is not linked to the Internet in any way, shape or form,” Bulloch County Election Supervisor Patricia Lanier Jones said in an interview. Bulloch County’s vote counts are sent to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office by Internet, but on a separate computer system from the voting and counting machines, and only after a local digital and paper record of the count is produced.