(The Center Square) – Georgia’s debate over how to change the way it counts election ballots received input on Monday from a legislative committee tasked with studying the issue.
The state faces a July 1 deadline to comply with its 2024 law that bans the use of computer quick-read codes, which critics contend aren’t accurate. But lawmakers haven’t set aside money for updating the system and haven’t agreed on an alternate fix, and election officials have said it’s too late to make major changes.
The House Blue-Ribbon Study Committee on Election Procedures, led by Republicans, recommended providing voters with pre-printed, hand-marked paper ballots beginning in the November general election. Ballots that contain a QR or bar code would need to be hand-counted, and those that are scanned would be used only for unofficial results.
Committee members also suggested purchasing a new statewide uniform voting system that aligns with the way Georgia counts ballots going forward.
Committee Chairman Tim Fleming, R-Covington, said the recommendations are the result of statewide public hearings last year where the committee “listened to voters, local officials and election professionals and carefully reviewed the information before us.”
“Our recommendations reflect a balanced, good-faith effort to strengthen confidence in our elections by improving transparency, consistency and accountability to make sure that Georgia’s election system is secure, accessible and in full compliance with state law,” Fleming said.
The panel’s report could serve as a guide for the legislature, where there has been no decision on whether to spend money on a new system or find a way to update the state’s current technology.
Lawmakers have faced pressure from paper-ballot advocates who say QR codes lead to inaccurate results, repeating a claim that President Trump has made since losing the 2020 general election.
Election officials have warned that hand-counting ballots will slow results, require more staffing and possibly lead to human errors.
Georgia’s new law is part of an effort to overhaul its election procedures after Democrats flipped two U.S. Senate seats in 2020 and voters gave former President Joe Biden a narrow win in the Republican-led state.
Trump has vowed to criminally charge people over the vote, which he continues to contend was stolen from him. On Wednesday the F.B.I searched a Fulton County election center, looking to seize ballots from the six-year-old election.
