Lawmakers set to meet again on new way to count Georgia votes

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — For a second time on Thursday, the Joint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee will meet to hear testimony and discuss the next steps for Georgia’s ballot counting.

Through legislation passed in 2024, state lawmakers self-imposed a July 1, 2026 deadline to phase out the currently used QR-code method of tabulating votes. During a special legislative session earlier this year, they moved the deadline back to 2028, meaning the QR-code method will remain in place for the upcoming November midterms.

The committee is charged with finding a replacement for the state’s current touchscreen system, with a focus on transitioning to hand-marked paper ballots. An earlier report to lawmakers authored by a separate elections special committee recommended that switch.

Over 30 states already use hand marked paper ballots, but the system is complicated and takes time to implement.

Some local elections clerks hope the joint committee considers all the options, not just hand marked paper ballots.

“I pray, I pray, I pray that the legislature, in their considering, is not just pushing towards a foregone conclusion, but actively evaluating things,” said Milton Kidd, Douglas County elections supervisor. “This is a nuanced conversation that the legislature has to approach seriously.”

Kidd said his number one concern – one shared by other elections supervisors across Georgia – is the cost associated with any systems changes. Funding for elections does come in part from the state, but also pulls from county budgets. To do that, counties tap property taxes, which were drastically slashed by the legislature earlier this year.

“It’s a large resource on county governments to foot that bill, so if the state legislature is going to make this change, where’s the money coming from,” said Kidd.

Kidd said they should also be considering the needs of large and small counties when it comes to election administration. For instance, smaller counties may be able to use preprinted ballots because they have less races, less voters, and less precincts. But larger counties often have multiple different races for elections to city council, school board or state house and senate, and thus need different versions of ballots.

“That, once again, has a price tag associated with it,” said Kidd. “Those ballot on demand printers, most of the companies, I’ve seen run $5,000 a printer and you have to think about one per location.”

It’s also something infiltrating the race for Georgia’s next governor.

On Thursday, Republican nominee Rick Jackson said he would support the recommendations of the mostly-Republican joint committee, praising current Gov. Brian Kemp for his work tightening election procedures after the 2020 presidential vote.

“You’re always improving every day,” said Jackson at a Wednesday press conference. “We never stop trying to improve and making it better and better, and making people feel like that everything is safe. And I’ll never stop ensuring making that happen.”

Atlanta News First reached out to Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms for comment but did not hear back.