Georgia lawmakers will convene next week for a special legislative session as the state races toward a July 1 georgia election ballot qr code deadline that would stop printed-ballot QR codes from being used to tabulate votes. The session is set to address voting legislation and district map redraws, putting a replacement or adjustment on the table before the cutoff.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said voting machines have fared better than hand-marked paper ballots in Georgia’s post-election audits. In the recent primary election, more than 99.99% of ballots showed no discrepancies, but out of over 2 million ballots, 159 showed errors.
Raffensperger audit results
Raffensperger said 143 of the 159 errors came from hand-marked paper ballots. He said, "The overwhelming majority of errors identified in our election review and audits have occurred with hand-marked paper ballots where voter intent can be unclear, marks can be incomplete, and human interpretation is necessary."
That leaves lawmakers with a narrow policy choice: find a tabulation method that fits the July 1 deadline, or revisit how Georgia handles ballots already marked by voters. The debate now centers on whether hand-marked paper ballots could serve as the answer once QR codes are barred from counting use.
Georgia General Assembly session
The Georgia General Assembly will meet next week in a special session that also includes district map redraws. On the voting side, the deadline lands first. QR codes on printed ballots can no longer be used to tabulate votes after July 1, so any fix has to be in place before then.
For voters, the immediate issue is not a new election date but the method Georgia uses to count ballots. The number Raffensperger cited, together with the approaching deadline, leaves lawmakers to settle on a system that can operate within the state’s audit record and the new rule on QR codes.
