Georgia’s state House and Senate are pursuing separate bills to remove barcodes from most of the state’s ballots, part of a continuing Republican pushback against Georgia’s voting machines.
The Senate Ethics Committee voted 8-2 on Thursday to advance Senate Bill 189 to the full Senate. It’s aimed at requiring new optical scanners that would read the printed text on ballots, rather than a QR code, a type of barcode. A House committee is considering a separate measure that has not yet advanced.
Both bills, as currently drafted, would take effect July 1, although Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has repeatedly said it would be impossible to alter the state’s electronic voting system before the November presidential election.
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