Georgia lawmakers delay a major change to the state’s voting system

Georgia lawmakers voted Tuesday to extend a self-imposed deadline to implement a new voting system for this fall’s midterm elections days before it was set to fall out of compliance with state election code.

Georgians voting in person typically use a digital ballot-marking device that prints out a marked ballot with a QR code and a written summary of the voter’s choices. The QR codes, which are indecipherable to the human eye, are used to tabulate votes, though the audit process includes a review of spelled-out choices when checking the results.

The state’s Republican-controlled Legislature voted in 2024 to stop using QR codes to count votes by July 1 of this year, fueled in large part by unfounded allegations of voter fraud and a yearslong federal lawsuit about the integrity of the state’s voter system.

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But actually implementing the change proved difficult. State officials said in 2024 that changes to the current system could cost tens of millions of dollars, while a total replacement could run as much as $300 million.

The legislation, which passed through the state Senate 36-16 and now heads to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to sign into law, delays the deadline for making the change to the 2028 election cycle and creates a committee to study and recommend the necessary changes by the end of January.

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Lawmakers failed to delay the deadline during the regular legislative session this spring, forcing Kemp to put the issue on the agenda for a special session this month.

Kemp also asked lawmakers to draw new congressional and legislative maps that could be put in place for the 2028 elections after a major U.S. Supreme Court decision on redistricting. But legislators declined, saying there wasn’t enough time to take up the issue in the special session.