State Election Board rejects paper ballots amid looming voting mess

The State Election Board on Friday rejected a proposal to force Georgia’s 159 counties to ditch the state’s voting touchscreens in favor of paper ballots filled out by hand.

The 4-1 vote against the plan came as the Republican-controlled board faced warnings that acting could invite lawsuits. The General Assembly adjourned last month, and it’s unclear whether lawmakers will return in time to address a July 1 deadline to change from counting votes using QR codes — unreadable by humans — and switch to another method.

“The board does not have the authority to make this change,” said State Election Board Chair John Fervier, a Gov. Brian Kemp appointee who opposed the proposal.

In a high-stakes election year, lawmakers left one of the biggest questions for election administrators across the state unaddressed when they adjourned without funding tweaks to the current system or replacing it altogether to come into compliance.

When the Legislature passed the voting law setting the July deadline two years ago, legislative leaders praised it as a measure to increase trust in elections — trust that had eroded among some Republicans after President Donald Trump’s narrow 2020 loss.

But the result seems to have created more confusion and uncertainty about the midterms than confidence in elections.

The board vote temporarily calms fears among many local election officials, who worry switching to hand-marked paper ballots as the primary voting method months before the 2026 midterms would pose administrative hurdles and disruptions at the polls.