ATLANTA (AP) 鈥� Legislation to keep Georgia’s embattled vote-counting method in place for this year鈥檚 midterm elections faced strong opposition from state Democrats on Monday after Republicans in the Georgia Senate approved an amendment that would require a hand recount of ballots.
Georgia鈥檚 governor, Republican Brian Kemp, had called lawmakers into a special session in part to address a July 1 deadline that was set to ban the QR codes used for the official vote count. Legislators that set that deadline, but then failed to find .
Some voting rights activists had warned that any changes so close to the midterm elections could create confusion at polling sites. Georgia is a political swing state where voters will decide high-profile races for U.S. Senate and governor in the fall.
State lawmakers last week appeared to have reached a deal on a bill to push the July 1 deadline back to 2028. But Republicans in the Senate approved an amendment over the weekend that would require a full hand recount of the two races at the top of ballot. In November, that would be the governor鈥檚 contest and a U.S. Senate election.
The amended bill passed the Senate on a party line vote, but the House did not immediately schedule it for a vote on Monday.
Georgia Democrats say a hand recount in November would create chaos that could sow doubt about the results. Research has shown that is more prone to error, costlier and likely to delay results. It has gained traction, however, with Republican lawmakers in some states amid President Donald Trump鈥檚 repeated about a stolen 2020 election.
鈥淲hat we are experiencing is a Republican Senate who鈥檚 acting extraordinarily irresponsibly with Georgia鈥檚 elections and people鈥檚 votes,鈥� state Rep. Saira Draper, a Democrat, said Monday.
Republican state Sen. Max Burns defended the Senate bill, saying hand counts and machine counts can 鈥渃oexist and confirm each other鈥檚 ultimate results.鈥�
鈥淭his amendment to a good bill is to strengthen it so that the voters have confidence in election security,鈥� he said.
Georgia’s current election system uses a QR code printed on ballots to tally the votes. It has drawn the ire of Trump, who claimed that voting machines in Georgia deleted or switched votes in the 2020 election. He to Democrat Joe Biden that year.
Georgia voting machines have been the subject of , which manufacturer Dominion Voting Systems fought vigorously in court. But election integrity advocates also have about the machines, arguing that they are and that voters cannot be sure their selections are accurately reflected because people can鈥檛 read QR codes.
The Georgia Senate bill would extend the July 1 deadline to Jan. 1, 2028. It also would create a committee to recommend requirements for a new voting system. The committee would have until Jan. 31, 2027, to report its findings. State lawmakers would be responsible for funding, buying and implementing the new system for the 2028 election cycle.
The special session also was supposed to redraw for the 2028 election, but state lawmakers postponed those plans.
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