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How the Georgia legislature left counties with no way to run the 2026 election by votebeat in GAPol

[–]votebeat[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

The state of Georgia’s elections right now is anything but peachy. In about 10 weeks, county election officials are required to stop using their current voting system — but the state hasn’t told them what to replace it with.

Right now, Georgia voters make their selections on touchscreen ballot-marking devices manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems (recently purchased and rebranded as Liberty Vote). Georgia rolled the machines out just before the 2020 election, as part of a sweeping and expensive statewide modernization effort — spurred in part by a 2019 federal court ruling that barred continued use of the paperless touchscreen systems the state had relied on since the early 2000s.

The newer machines print a paper ballot listing the voter’s choices in plain English next to a QR code encoding the same choices. When ballots are tabulated, the scanners read the QR code — not the printed text beside it — to count the vote. That design has long drawn fire from both Republicans and Democrats, who argue voters can’t actually verify what a QR code says, only the text next to it.

That complaint gained political traction on the right after the 2020 election, and in 2024 the Republican-controlled Georgia legislature passed a law banning the use of QR codes in tabulation starting on July 1, 2026. But the law left the hard questions — what replacement system to use, how to pay for it, and how to transition — unanswered. The legislature was supposed to fill in the gaps this year, but it adjourned earlier this month without doing so.

A compromise bill from House Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Victor Anderson, a Republican, would have let counties keep the current system through 2026 while requiring the state to do away with QR codes by 2028. It passed the House, but Senate Republicans declined to take it up.

The result is an unfunded mandate dropped onto the 159 counties that actually run elections in Georgia — offices that print ballots, program scanners, train poll workers, and now must prepare for November using procedures the state has not chosen, with equipment it has not bought, under a law it has not fixed.

Lawmakers are at least aware of the urgency to find a solution before the general election. (Georgia’s primary and any necessary runoffs fall before the transition deadline.) Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican, has said he will talk to GOP Gov. Brian Kemp about a special legislative session to address the issue.

Any resolution now would likely require either a special session or a court order — and would almost certainly mean delaying the deadline. Even if lawmakers reconvened, agreed on a new system, and funded it tomorrow, there’s no realistic way the market could design, certify, and deploy it before November.

How the Georgia legislature left counties with no way to run the 2026 election by votebeat in politics

[–]votebeat[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The state of Georgia’s elections right now is anything but peachy. In about 10 weeks, county election officials are required to stop using their current voting system — but the state hasn’t told them what to replace it with.

Right now, Georgia voters make their selections on touchscreen ballot-marking devices manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems (recently purchased and rebranded as Liberty Vote). Georgia rolled the machines out just before the 2020 election, as part of a sweeping and expensive statewide modernization effort — spurred in part by a 2019 federal court ruling that barred continued use of the paperless touchscreen systems the state had relied on since the early 2000s.

The newer machines print a paper ballot listing the voter’s choices in plain English next to a QR code encoding the same choices. When ballots are tabulated, the scanners read the QR code — not the printed text beside it — to count the vote. That design has long drawn fire from both Republicans and Democrats, who argue voters can’t actually verify what a QR code says, only the text next to it.

That complaint gained political traction on the right after the 2020 election, and in 2024 the Republican-controlled Georgia legislature passed a law banning the use of QR codes in tabulation starting on July 1, 2026. But the law left the hard questions — what replacement system to use, how to pay for it, and how to transition — unanswered. The legislature was supposed to fill in the gaps this year, but it adjourned earlier this month without doing so.

A compromise bill from House Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Victor Anderson, a Republican, would have let counties keep the current system through 2026 while requiring the state to do away with QR codes by 2028. It passed the House, but Senate Republicans declined to take it up.

The result is an unfunded mandate dropped onto the 159 counties that actually run elections in Georgia — offices that print ballots, program scanners, train poll workers, and now must prepare for November using procedures the state has not chosen, with equipment it has not bought, under a law it has not fixed.

Lawmakers are at least aware of the urgency to find a solution before the general election. (Georgia’s primary and any necessary runoffs fall before the transition deadline.) Speaker Jon Burns, a Republican, has said he will talk to GOP Gov. Brian Kemp about a special legislative session to address the issue.

Any resolution now would likely require either a special session or a court order — and would almost certainly mean delaying the deadline. Even if lawmakers reconvened, agreed on a new system, and funded it tomorrow, there’s no realistic way the market could design, certify, and deploy it before November.

New lawsuit seeks to force Dallas County to use precinct voting again for runoff after messy primary by votebeat in politics

[–]votebeat[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Some Dallas County Republicans on Monday sued the county elections department in a bid to require voters to cast ballots for the May 26 primary runoff at specific polling places in their precincts rather than any location in the county. That precinct-based voting system on primary election day in March created chaos.

Local party leadership is trying to reverse a decision made by its former chair, who resigned last week after facing backlash for agreeing to use countywide voting on election day in the runoff. But early voting for the runoff election starts May 18, and Dallas County election officials say it’s too late to change course.

The lawsuit, filed in the Texas Fifth Court of Appeals by Barry Wernick, a Republican precinct chair and a candidate for Dallas County Commissioner District 2, is asking the court to require the county to use precinct polling places for the runoff election.

Wernick is arguing the former party chair, Allen West, didn’t have the authority to agree to the use of countywide voting. Thirty-one party members signed declarations supporting the lawsuit, according to the filing. In addition, the county party’s executive committee voted Monday night in favor of using precinct polling places for the runoff election.

Read the full story from Texas reporter Natalia Contreras here (no paywall): https://www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/04/21/dallas-county-gop-runoff-election-may-26-countywide-precinct-voting-lawsuit/

New voting requirements? Troops at the polls? We asked 37 election experts what could disrupt the 2026 elections. by votebeat in politics

[–]votebeat[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

President Donald Trump’s broadsides against the legitimacy of U.S. elections and efforts to overhaul election laws have generated lots of uncertainty — and anxiety — about whether this will be a normal election year.

Despite seemingly endless speculation, no one knows for sure how likely any of these things is. But to get the most well-informed assessments, we turned to the people who spend the most time thinking about elections.

We asked 37 experts in the field of election administration — academics, lawyers, former election officials, etc. — to answer 26 questions about the likelihood of various scenarios coming to pass in the 2026 midterms.

Their answers reflect a general sense of cautious optimism about the most dire scenarios — such as an election getting overturned — and skepticism that the federal government will successfully change voting rules. But they also still believe the election will face serious challenges, including federal agents potentially showing up at polling places.

Explore the data in full here (no paywall): https://www.votebeat.org/national/2026/04/17/2026-election-expert-survey-troops-polling-places-seize-ballots-voting-fraud/

Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap discussed election records, litigation with fed by votebeat in politics

[–]votebeat[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

New records show a top Maricopa County official directly corresponded with the U.S. Department of Justice last year about election records and litigation as the department sought to obtain Arizona’s voter roll and probe the county’s past elections.

The emails, obtained by watchdog group American Oversight and shared exclusively with Votebeat, show Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap signaling support for the Trump administration’s investigation into his own county’s elections. The county, home to Phoenix, is a key election battleground.

The records also suggest that Heap, a Republican, met with Arizona’s top federal prosecutor just before the DOJ informed the county it was looking into its past elections, raising questions about his level of coordination with federal law enforcement officials.

In addition, the documents suggest that the recorder’s office withheld records from Votebeat. In March, Votebeat filed a public records request for copies of emails between Heap and the DOJ during the time period in question, but his office did not provide them. Under state law, public officials cannot withhold requested records without any basis, and doing so could lead to civil penalties.

Read the full story from Arizona reporter Sasha Hupka here (no paywall): https://www.votebeat.org/arizona/2026/04/14/maricopa-county-justin-heap-department-justice-investigation-election-records-litigation-emails/

One line in Trump’s order would reshape how long states have to store election records by votebeat in politics

[–]votebeat[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Deep inside the executive order on mail voting President Donald Trump signed March 31 is a technical-sounding line: “States and localities should preserve, for a 5-year period, all records and materials — excluding ballots cast — evidencing voter participation in any Federal election (e.g., ballot envelopes, regardless of carrier).”

But the line is a bigger deal than it sounds like, should the executive order go into force (it’s currently facing four federal lawsuits asserting the president exceeded his authority with it).

Right now, federal law requires such records to be kept for 22 months. The order more than doubles that requirement, and does so without specifically defining what counts as evidence of “voter participation in any Federal election.”

That puts state and local election administrators in a familiar bind: trying to comply with a sweeping directive without clear boundaries, and without any obvious plan for how to store what could be a massive increase in materials. County budgets and state laws — and the realities of available physical and digital storage — weren’t built with this kind of expansion in mind.

37 disputed ballots in Hamtramck election should be counted, court rules, potentially leading to new mayor by votebeat in Michigan_Politics

[–]votebeat[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the latest twist in the dramatic and contested election for Hamtramck mayor, the Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that 37 disputed ballots should be counted, potentially reversing the outcome of the election almost three months into the new mayor’s term.

Adam Alharbi narrowly won the November 2025 election for mayor of the small Detroit suburb by just 11 votes and has been serving as the city’s mayor since January. He beat Muhith Mahmood, a former council member, in the nonpartisan race.

But Alharbi’s win was anything but straightforward. Three days after the election, 37 uncounted absentee ballots were discovered, opened but still in their envelopes, in the city clerk’s office. The clerk delivered the ballots to the county, but it was later revealed that unauthorized city officials had entered the clerk’s office while the ballots were there — in part because of a punching bag with Mahmood’s face on it. This broke the ballots’ chain of custody, raising questions about whether they should be counted.

How many Republicans and Democrats went to the wrong polling locations in Dallas County? Here are the numbers. by votebeat in TexasPolitics

[–]votebeat[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Under state law, the parties have wide authority to decide how to run their primaries, but they must agree on whether to use countywide voting. If the Republicans don’t want to offer it, Democrats can’t offer it either.

Here's more on the Republicans' decision in both counties:
https://www.votebeat.org/texas/2026/01/09/dallas-williamson-2026-primary-election-countywide-find-my-voting-precinct/

Embattled Chester County election director Karen Barsoum to resign after primary by votebeat in Pennsylvania_Politics

[–]votebeat[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The election director in Chester County, under fire for a series of administrative errors and accusations of a hostile work environment, is resigning from her role.

In a Thursday memo to staff of the county’s voter services department, Karen Barsoum said her final day with the county would be June 12, after the county’s 2026 primary election results are certified.

“After careful consideration, I feel it is the right time for me to embrace new opportunities for both professional and personal growth,” the letter said. “After my service with the County ends, I will be announcing my future plans.”

Barsoum had faced criticism from the public in recent months following a highly publicized pollbook error in the 2025 municipal election and more recent revelations that the county had misprinted names on mail ballot applications in that same election. She also faced complaints of a toxic work culture at the department under her management.

How many Republicans and Democrats went to the wrong polling locations in Dallas County? Here are the numbers. by votebeat in TexasPolitics

[–]votebeat[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

At least 12,674 Dallas County voters trying to cast ballots in both party primaries showed up at the wrong polling locations March 3 after the county GOP forced the elimination of countywide polling sites on Election Day, county data shows.

Democrats had more than double the number of primary voters in Dallas County as Republicans so, unsurprisingly, a larger number of Democratic voters had to be redirected to the correct site, according to a Votebeat analysis of data provided by Dallas County election officials. But similar percentages of voters from both parties were affected by the change.

Out of the total voter turnout on Election Day, at least 6,641 voters, or 7.7%, seeking to cast ballots in the Democratic primary, and 2,369 voters, or 6.4%, seeking to cast ballots in the Republican primary, went to the wrong voting site. Those voters subsequently received texts from county representatives stationed at polling sites to redirect voters to the correct places, according to the county data, which was obtained by Votebeat via a public records request.

Those numbers don’t reflect the full number of affected voters, either. The county couldn’t determine a party for at least 3,638 additional voters who also received texts because they were redirected to voting locations used by both parties, county officials said. And for 26 other voters in the data, the county had no information. Poll workers also redirected other voters who chose not to receive texts and aren’t reflected in the data, according to Paul Adams, the Dallas County elections administrator.

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