Georgia lawmakers are headed back to Atlanta for a special session with two politically explosive election fights on the table: redistricting and the state’s looming ballot-counting deadline.
Gov. Brian Kemp called the General Assembly back to the Capitol for Wednesday’s session, which is expected to focus first on new district maps after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling reshaped the legal landscape for race-based redistricting claims. CBS News Atlanta reported the maps would be for the 2028 election cycle, not the already-underway 2026 cycle.
But the more immediate problem is Georgia’s voting equipment. A 2024 law bars the state from using QR codes as the official vote-counting method after July 1, 2026. Georgia’s current ballot-marking machines print a paper ballot with readable vote choices and a QR code, but scanners use the code to tabulate results.
Lawmakers never approved a replacement system, leaving counties to face dueling guidance just weeks before voters return to the polls. The Secretary of State’s Office has suggested keeping the existing machines and using optical character recognition to count the human-readable ballot text for certification. The State Election Board has argued that approach is not authorized and told counties to prepare emergency hand-marked paper ballots if lawmakers do not extend the deadline.
The timing is especially tight because a special election to fill the late U.S. Rep. David Scott’s seat is scheduled for July 28, with early voting starting July 6.
Lawmakers could buy time by extending the QR-code deadline, but any delay could spark backlash from Republicans who pushed the 2024 change as an election transparency measure. Without a fix, counties could be staring at confusion, litigation and another Georgia election fight before ballots are even cast.
