State Election Board pushes for faster action on shift away from QR codes on Georgia ballots

Several people sit at a board meeting in front of a projection.
Members of Georgia’s State Election Board meet on March 18 at the Marietta City Hall building. (Maya Homan/Georgia Recorder)

Georgia’s State Election Board unanimously passed a resolution Wednesday urging state lawmakers to hasten a switch to hand-marked paper ballots, just a day after legislators unveiled a proposal to delay overhauling Georgia’s election system until after the 2026 midterms.

The resolution, introduced by board member Salleigh Grubbs, requests that Georgia implement hand-marked paper ballots “as soon as practicable,” arguing that the state’s current system of using QR codes to tally ballots does not allow voters to fully proof their ballots before casting them.

“I think this is an emergency in Georgia,” Grubbs said at a board meeting Wednesday. “I think a voting emergency should be declared.”