Georgians should continue voting with the same machines they have been using for years until a new system can be acquired in 2028, lawmakers decided before ending their special session Tuesday.
In largely partisan votes by the state House and Senate, Republicans approved a measure that delays their previous July 1 ban on the use of QR codes to tabulate votes.
Georgia’s voting machines became a target for some after President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Critics contended the system was vulnerable to hacking and error, and they noted that voters cannot read the QR code on their ballot to confirm it accurately recorded their intent.
After voting two years ago to ban the system, GOP lawmakers failed to adopt or pay for an alternative. They blamed fellow Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who pointed back at them.
With the November midterms approaching, local election directors were saying it was far too late to switch to a new system. And that was back in the winter and spring, when the General Assembly was considering postponing the July 1 deadline during its regular session.
Lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would have done that, so Gov. Brian Kemp called them back to the Capitol to resolve the crisis.
If Kemp signs Senate Bill 3EX, it will delay the deadline to replace the system until Jan. 1, 2028.
It would also establish a committee of lawmakers to recommend standards for the next voting system based on hand-marked paper ballots. And it would require a hand recount of top-of-the-ballot races with tiny margins.
An earlier version produced by the Senate would have required hand recounts of the two top races in each cycle, including for U.S. president and U.S. Senate.
Critics derided that proposal, saying hand counts are inaccurate and time-consuming and that manual tallies that conflicted with machine tallies would further erode confidence in elections.
“Please do not subject Georgia to this,” Kristin Nabers, the Georgia director of the group All Voting is Local, said at a House committee hearing Monday.
Members of that committee, both Republicans and Democrats, were dubious about the hand count provision, as well.
So, leaders of the House and Senate met Monday night to negotiate a compromise.
The version of SB 3EX the Legislature sent to Kemp would require hand recounts in most statewide races only when the margin is within 0.5%.
“So it’s very narrowly defined,” Rep. Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, the chairman of the committee that reviewed SB 3EX, said on the House floor Tuesday.
The organization that represents election officials was satisfied by the change.
But those who do not trust the state’s current voting machines were not happy that the requirement for manual recounts would not extend to federal races and that QR codes would still be used in November.
“I think there’s going to be dissatisfaction in the fact that we are still on the QR codes for the 2026 election,” said Garland Favorito, cofounder of VoterGA, a group that has been pushing to eradicate the digital codes from the voting process.
Many Democrats rejected the premise of a flawed election system, calling the special session a waste of time and taxpayer money.
“You just cannot build a healthy democracy by catering to people who will just never accept the results of an election if it does not favor them,” Rep. Jasmine Clark, D-Lilburn, said on the House floor before voting against SB 3EX.
But her GOP colleague, Rep. Rob Leverett, R-Elberton, noted the fast-approaching July 1 deadline for eradicating QR codes. If the General Assembly failed to pass the measure, he said, “then we may be hand-counting ballots in 159 counties in the state of Georgia. That is a high probability.”
In the Senate, only four Democrats voted for the measure, including Sen. Josh McLaurin, D-Sandy Springs, his party’s nominee for lieutenant governor.
His opponent, Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, voted for passage along with all the other Republicans present.
If Kemp signs SB 3EX, and the tally in their election is within 0.5%, they will automatically get a hand recount.
