ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� The Georgia General Assembly ended its annual session early Friday without to overhaul the state’s voting system by a July deadline, plunging into doubt the future of elections in the political battleground.
The lawmakers’ failure to offer a solution after months of debate raises uncertainty about how Georgians will vote in November and leaves confusion that could end in the courts or a special legislative session.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e abdicated their responsibility,鈥� Democratic state Rep. Saira Draper said of inaction by Republicans who control the legislature.
Currently, voters make their choices on Dominion Voting machines, which then print ballots with a QR code that scanners read to tally votes. Those machines have been repeatedly targeted by President Donald Trump following his 2020 election loss, and Trump鈥檚 Georgia supporters responded by in 2024 that bans using barcodes to count votes.
But state law still requires counties to use the machines. No money has been allocated to reprogram them, and lawmakers failed to agree on a replacement.
鈥淲e鈥檒l have an unresolvable statutory conflict come July 1,鈥� said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Victor Anderson, a Cornelia Republican who backed a proposal to keep using the machines in 2026 that Senate Republicans declined to consider.
Republican House Speaker Jon Burns said he would meet with Gov. Brian Kemp and 鈥渢ake his temperature鈥� on the possibility of a special session.
Kemp spokesperson Carter Chapman said he Republican governor will examine the situation.
鈥淲e鈥檒l analyze all bills, as well as the consequence of those that did not pass,鈥� Chapman said Friday.
House Republicans and Democrats backed Anderson’s plan, which would have required that Georgia choose a voting process that didn’t use QR codes by 2028. Election officials preferred that solution.
鈥淭he Senate has shown that they鈥檙e not responsible actors,鈥� Draper said. She added that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a Trump-endorsed Republican running for governor, seemed more interested in keeping Trump’s backing than 鈥渄oing right by Georgia voters.鈥�
Jones said in a statement the Senate has proven its commitment to secure elections by passing legislation that includes banning barcodes on ballots.
鈥淟ike President Trump, I have been a staunch defender of safe and secure elections and my record speaks for itself,” Jones said.
A spokesperson for Jones didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment early Friday.
Joseph Kirk, Bartow County election supervisor and president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said he鈥檒l look to the secretary of state for guidance and assumes a judge will rule to instruct election officials how to proceed.
鈥淭his is uncharted territory,鈥� he said.
Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who is also running for governor, said officials are 鈥渞eady to follow the law and follow the Constitution.鈥�
Burns told reporters that his chamber was seeking to minimize changes this year.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 change horses in the middle of the stream,鈥� Burns said.
Anderson said without action, the state could be required to use hand-marked and hand-counted paper ballots in November.
Election officials say switching to a new system within just a few months, as advocated by some Republicans, would be nearly impossible.
鈥淭hey made no way for this to happen except putting a deadline on it,” Cherokee County elections director Anne Dover said of the switch away from barcodes. Dover said one problem under some plans is that a very large number of ballots would have to be printed.
Lawmakers seemed more concerned about scoring political points than making practical plans, Paulding County Election Supervisor Deidre Holden said.
鈥淚f anyone is resilient and can get the job done, it鈥檚 all of us election officials, but the legislators need to work with us, and they need to understand what we do before they go making laws that are basically unachievable for us,鈥� Holden said.
Supporters of hand-marked paper ballots say voters are more likely to trust in an accurate count if they can see what gets read by the scanner.
Right-wing election activists lobbied lawmakers for an immediate switch to hand-marked paper ballots, but the House turned away from a Senate proposal to do so.
Anderson said he wasn鈥檛 sure if a special session could escape those political crosswinds, but said Georgia lawmakers must fix the problem.
鈥淭his is a legislative problem,鈥� Anderson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a legislative solution that has to happen.鈥�
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