Georgia is moving to change how it counts votes ahead of a July 1 deadline, after a state law that bars the use of QR codes to tabulate ballots. To resolve how elections will be run before the change takes hold, the governor has called lawmakers back for a special session. The shift is pushing the state toward the use of hand-marked paper ballots.
At the center of the issue is SB 189, which takes effect on July 1 and states that results can no longer be tabulated using the QR code printed on ballots. Without the ability to read that machine code, officials would need to move to hand-marked paper ballots in order to count votes. The provision had been enacted into law previously but had not yet been fully put into practice across the state.
The State Election Board has voted for a resolution calling on counties to adopt hand-marked paper ballots. There remains, however, a difference of opinion over exactly where the authority lies to direct counties on how to run their elections. County election officials, caught in the middle, have said they need clear guidance on what is expected of them before the deadline arrives.
To address the looming mandate, the Georgia legislature is being called back into a special session next week under an order from Governor Brian Kemp. The aim is to deal directly with the requirement that QR codes no longer be used as of July 1. Lawmakers had not finished their work on legislation for a voting system, or on a full move to hand-marked paper ballots, during their regular session earlier this year.
The timing is tight. The special session follows closely on the heels of a primary runoff scheduled for the coming Tuesday, June 16, with lawmakers due to convene the following day, June 17. That compressed schedule adds pressure on legislators to settle the rules governing how ballots are counted before they are set to take effect.
For now, the unresolved mandate has left county election officials waiting for direction on how votes should ultimately be cast and counted. Supporters of the change have long argued that the portion of the ballot used to count votes should be one that voters can actually read, rather than a machine code. The special session is intended to provide that clarity and to determine the path forward for the state's elections.