ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers set up the possibility of a swift conversion to hand-marked paper ballots this year when they failed to pass a bill early Friday morning that would have gradually replaced the state’s touchscreen voting system.
The Senate’s refusal to vote on the bipartisan elections bill leaves Georgia with computer-generated ballots that will soon be illegal, just months before the midterm elections.
The legislation, Senate Bill 214, would have delayed a state law passed two years ago that set a July 1, 2026, deadline to stop using the kind of ballots produced by Georgia’s touchscreen voting machines, which print computer QR codes on ballots to count votes.
Opponents of the current voting system say humans can’t read QR codes — which contain voters’ choices — to verify that their ballots are accurate.
Without a new law, the July 1 deadline to eliminate QR codes remains in effect.
Instead of those QR-coded ballots, voters would need to use Georgia’s backup voting system: pre-printed ballots with ovals that voters fill in with a pen. Existing ballot scanning machines can read hand-marked ballots.
Rep. Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, speaks about Senate Bill 214 on the House floor during the final day of the 2026 Legislative Session, on Thursday, April 2, at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta. This bill would have switched Georgia to hand-marked paper ballots by 2028. (Ashtin Barker/Capitol Beat)
County election directors have warned that an election-year transition to a new voting method, without a plan or funding, could lead to voter confusion and disruptions in polling places.
It’s unclear how they will handle the hurdles of pre-printing millions of ballots, training election workers, and educating voters if QR codes are banned two months from now.
“I think we’ve got a problem,” said Sen. Kim Jackson, D-Stone Mountain. “By not acting, we’ve actually chosen chaos.”
The House voted 132-39 hours earlier SB 214, which would have moved the deadline to eliminate QR codes to 2028.
But Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, who presides over the Senate, let the House’s competing solution die without a vote as the legislative session ended early Friday morning. The Senate passed a bill last week to require hand-marked paper ballots in this year’s elections, but the House didn’t consider it.
Senate Majority Leader Jason Anavitarte, R-Dallas, said he didn’t know what would happen next.
House Speaker Jon Burns, R-Newington, said needed to talk with Gov. Brian Kemp about what, if anything, lawmakers should do next.
Burns said the House bill was a “reasonable plan” to update Georgia’s voting technology gradually rather than immediately during a high-stakes election year.
“You can’t change horses in the middle of the stream,” Burns said. “Part of what we want to do is what’s tried and true, working with our locals with a good plan that we knew could work.”
Kemp could call a special session to bring legislators back to the Capitol to resolve the issue.
“There’s still some options. We’ve got to look. We’ve got to investigate. I’m hopeful we’ll get there,” said Sen. Max Burns, R-Sylvania. “Give us 24 to 48 hours to get a nap, and then we can talk about it.”
Under the bill approved by the House, Georgia would have bought a new election system that would count ballots without using QR codes before the 2028 presidential election year, recording votes directly from bubbled-in ovals or the text printed on ballots.
House Governmental Affairs Chair Victor Anderson, R-Cornelia, said county election officials need time to buy and test a new voting system before it’s rolled out to Georgia’s 8 million registered voters.
Georgia’s election equipment, purchased from Dominion Voting Systems for over $100 million in 2019, came under fire from Republicans after President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. Election security experts have also criticized it, saying the technology is vulnerable to tampering.
County election directors from across Georgia supported the bill that passed the House, SB 214, over the Senate’s proposals that would have forced a rapid switch to hand-marked paper ballots before the November midterm elections.
They said such a quick transition would disrupt elections because there wouldn’t have been much time for training, testing, and implementation.
Without a new law, election directors will have to begin preparing for that possibility.
ATLANTA — Birth control medications will be provided at pharmacies across Georgia without needing a prescription, according to a bill that won final approval from the General Assembly on Thursday.
Lawmakers said the bill makes contraceptives more available to women, especially in the 82 of Georgia’s 159 counties without an obstetrician.
“We talk a lot about prevention and improving outcomes for women’s health, and this is a way to do this without a mandate,” said Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta.
The legislation, House Bill 1138, authorizes licensed pharmacists to dispense a three-month supply of birth control medication the first time a patient obtains the drug, and up to a 12-month supply afterward. Pharmacists aren’t required to dispense birth control if they choose not to.
Georgia bans abortions once a doctor can detect fetal cardiac activity, which typically occurs around six weeks after conception and before many women know they’re pregnant.
The Senate voted 49-1 to pass HB 1138, and the House voted 158-11. The measure now advances to Gov. Brian Kemp for his approval or veto.
ATLANTA — Victims of childhood sexual abuse can’t be silenced by nondisclosure agreements in legal settlements, according to a bill that cleared the Georgia General Assembly on Thursday.
The Senate voted unanimously to approve the bill, which is called Trey’s Law in memory of Trey Carlock, a former Atlanta-area resident who was sexually abused at a Missouri camp along with other victims.
Carlock settled a lawsuit against the camp, but a nondisclosure agreement prevented him from talking about what happened to him.
“These NDAs silence survivors or sexual abuse in civil settlement agreements and force victims to choose between compensation and their voice,” said Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-Marietta. “The purpose of the law is so that survivors can speak openly about the abuse that they suffered.”
Gov. Brian Kemp said during his State of the State address that Trey’s Law is a priority of First Lady Marty Kemp and the Georgians for Refuge, Action, Compassion, and Education Commission, which was created to combat human trafficking.
The change is a response to the Trump administration’s decision last year to stop making new pennies, which will lead to their gradual disappearance from circulation.
The legislation calls for Georgia businesses to round down transactions that end in a 1, 2, 6, or 7. Prices that end in a 3, 4, 8, or 9 would be rounded up. And items with costs that end exactly in a 0 or 5 would stay the same.
The rounding requirement applies to in-person purchases made with cash. Transactions with credit cards wouldn’t need to be rounded.
The House voted 163-4 to approve House Bill 1112 on Thursday, sending it to Gov. Brian Kemp for his approval or veto.
ATLANTA — The Georgia House narrowly defeated a bill Tuesday that sought to protect Confederate monuments, a proposal that opponents said glorified the South’s defense of slavery in the Civil War.
The legislation would have allowed anyone to sue over the removal or damage of monuments, and groups such as the Sons of Confederate Veterans would have been able to continue publicly displaying monuments after local governments voted to relocate them.
Several Georgia cities have taken down Confederate monuments in recent years, often in response to repeated vandalism. Those monuments are then moved or put in storage.
Rep. Tanya Miller, D-Atlanta, said legislators should be embarrassed for celebrating the history of slavery.
“We should all be saddened and ashamed of ourselves. We’re not talking about a war. We’re talking about centuries of mass murder,” Miller said. “We are still waging wars with the ghosts of the past and a war that was lost — lost for the purpose of treating men and women and babies as human beings.”
Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell, said the bill was a way to remember soldiers who died in wars and are memorialized in stone.
“You can’t deny history. You need to know where your history is, so you’d never repeat the mistakes,” Powell said. “There’s nothing I know of that’s a greater sin than the institution of slavery. If you don’t want the monuments, here’s a pathway to move them.”
Critics of Senate Bill 175 objected to giving any individual or group the right to sue over monuments, potentially leading to costly court fights and delays while monuments remain on display. Local governments would have been liable for damages if they lost those lawsuits.
The Georgia Court of Appeals ruled last year that Gwinnett County had sovereign immunity against a lawsuit by the Sons of Confederate Veterans over the removal of a monument in downtown Lawrenceville.
The legislation also would have required local governments to give 90 days’ notice before they remove or relocate a monument. During that time, anyone could petition to take possession of the monument for public display.
Democrats universally opposed the bill, and it fell short because a handful of Republicans voted no or skipped the vote. SB 175 failed 89-73, two votes fewer than a majority needed for it to pass in the 180-seat House.
“These Confederate monuments are not objects of history. They are racist propaganda carved into stone,” said Rep. Gabriel Sanchez, D-Smyrna. “Working families of Georgia are not interested in statues of old racists and do not care about sanctifying national flags of the Confederacy. They want a government that works for them now, in today’s day and age.”
A state law passed in 2019 makes it difficult for local governments to relocate or remove monuments but allows “appropriate measures for the preservation, protection, and interpretation” of monuments.
Monuments can also be moved by judges when they become public nuisances or a threat to public safety.
