Georgia lawmakers are expected to try to clean up an election mess of their own making when they return to the Capitol this week for a special session.
FILE- Courtney Parker votes on a new voting machine, in Dallas, Ga. , Nov. 5, 2019. FILE - Voting machines fill the floor for early voting at State Farm Arena, Oct. 12, 2020, in Atlanta.
– When Georgia lawmakers return to the Capitol this week for a special session, they are expected to try to clean up The election system used throughout the political battleground state relies on a QR code printed on ballots to tally the votes. Legislatorsis to “address issues created” by that law.
Meanwhile, the secretary of state's office and the State Election Board have further muddied the waters by issuing conflicting guidance for county election officials about how votes should be cast and counted. If the issues are not resolved soon, there is likely to be confusion and possibly litigation over the state's elections after July 1. A special election to fill a U.S. House seat is scheduled for that month.law banning barcodes for the “official tabulation count” after July 1, 2026.
But in the two years since, neither the secretary of state's office nor the General Assembly has taken action to comply. Now, the deadline is fast approaching and a major midterm election looms.shortly after he took office for his second term in January 2025. That order has been blocked by multiple courts and is not being enforced.
It's possible that lawmakers could extend the deadline in the law to allow the QR codes to be used for now and give themselves some breathing room to come up with a new system before elections in 2028. But in the waning hours of the regular legislative session earlier this year, they rejected a proposal that would have done that.
Even if lawmakers agree on a solution, it might be tough to implement before a special election to fill the remainder of the term of U.S. Rep. David Scott, whoThe secretary of state's office last week issued guidance to election officials in the six counties included in that congressional district. The office says it's preliminary and subject to change based on any developments from the special session.
The ballots will be run through the scanners, which will read the QR code to generate the election night vote count. Then, before county certification, electronic images created by the scanners for each ballot will be uploaded to a server, where optical character recognition software will be used to tally the votes using the human-readable text. The results of that second process will be the official tabulation count.
The secretary of state's guidance expressly says counties must continue to use the current election system, including the touchscreen voting machines, and that there is nothing in the law that authorizes the use of hand-marked paper ballots for in-person voting. The State Election Board weighed in two days later with conflicting guidance. Board members argued the plan proposed by the secretary of state is not authorized by law.
The board passed a resolution instructing counties on what to do if the special legislative session does not result in an extension of the deadline for using QR codes. The resolution directs counties to use their emergency backup, which calls for hand-marked paper ballots with scanners used to count voters' selections.
When asked about the conflicting guidance during the election board meeting, Elizabeth Young, a lawyer with the state attorney general's office, said that while the guidance is not binding,"obviously it would cause confusion for elections superintendents if they are getting differing instructions from two agencies, both of which have some authority over what they’re doing. ”Henry County in Atlanta's suburbs is one of the counties where voters will go to the polls for next month's special election.
Axiver Harris, interim elections director, said the county is aware of the conflicting guidance and is awaiting further clarification from the state.
“Given the uncertainty surrounding the guidance currently available, we believe it is wise to wait for further direction to ensure that any decisions made are consistent with state requirements and election administration best practices,” he wrote in an email. Marcye Scott, who is running in the special election to serve the remainder of her late father's term, said she is not sure most voters are even aware of the issue and is focusing her attention elsewhere.
“My goal is to get people to the polls, get my people to the polls and get them to vote for me,” she said. But Carlos Moore, another of the six candidates running in the special election, said he is worried about legal challenges if a new method of vote-counting is implemented without enough time. He hopes lawmakers extend the deadline to allow the use of the QR codes for now.
“I would ask that legislators do the right thing, leave well enough alone for the special election," he said. “Otherwise, it’s almost certain there will be challenges in court. ” Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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