The Georgia Senate voted along party lines Tuesday to abandon the use of bar codes on ballots. Instead, ballots would be counted from the printed text or filled-in ovals next to candidate names.
Republicans supporting the bill said it would improve election security and reduce the risk of hacks or tampering that could flip votes. There’s no indication that Georgia’s voting machines have been breached during an election.
It’s unlikely that the change could be made in time for this year’s presidential election.
“The biggest challenge that a voter has is knowing that their vote was correctly recorded,” said Sen. Max Burns, a Republican from Sylvania. “Let’s eliminate QR codes. Let’s make sure that electors can read the ballot and be clear about how they voted.”
Democrats critical of the proposal said it would be expensive and impractical to implement before this November’s presidential election.
“We have an election around the corner and there is not time to deal with all this new technology now,” said Sen. Sally Harrell, a Democrat from Atlanta. “There was plenty of time to do it, but Republicans chose not to.”
With Georgia’s voting technology, manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems, in-person voters fill out their ballots on touchscreens, which are attached to printers that create a paper ballot. The ballot displays voters’ choices in text alongside a QR code that is counted by scanning machines.
Under Senate Bill 189, ballot scanners would count votes directly from the ballot text or a machine mark, such as a computer-printed oval filled in with voters’ choices. The text or bubbles would become the official vote rather than the QR code.
The cost of technology changes needed to count ballots from the text starts at $15 million — and possibly much more — for thousands of new ballot printers and election computers across the state. So far, lawmakers haven’t appropriated money in the state budget for replacement election equipment.
The legislation cleared the Senate on a 31-22 vote, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed. The bill now advances to the state House.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has repeatedly said the state’s voting system is secure without the change. And he said it would be impossible to eliminate QR codes before this year’s presidential election.
The proposed state budget includes $5 million for technology to audit and verify elections without using QR codes.
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