Overhaul or gridlock: Georgia’s push for new voting system faces tight timeline, legal risks

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — A newly formed state legislative panel met for the first time Friday at the State Capitol to begin redesigning Georgia’s statewide voting system, navigating intense pressure to replace touchscreen equipment by the 2028 elections.

The Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee is charged with finding a replacement for the state’s current touchscreen system, with a focus on transitioning to hand-marked paper ballots.

State purchasing experts delivered a blunt warning to the bipartisan committee, noting that acquiring a new uniform system will take months. They cautioned that even a single vendor protest or lawsuit could trigger an automatic stay, immediately freezing the entire process and delaying the rollout.

The push to replace the touchscreen system follows years of public debate.

“Let’s be candid, we’re here because people have lost trust in the system,” said state Rep. Scott Holcomb (D-Atlanta), who is the sole Democratic lawmaker serving on the panel.

State Sen. Max Burns (R-Sylvania), who serves as the committee’s Senate co-chair, acknowledged the administrative mountain the state must climb.

“We realize that the procurement process, the implementation, the training process takes time,” Burns said.

Complicating the transition is the massive price tag of Georgia’s current voting infrastructure. The state spent $107 million in 2019 to buy its current setup of 30,000 touchscreen machines.

Holcomb raised fiscal concerns during the meeting, noting that taxpayers are still paying off the debt on those machines.

“I am troubled that we haven’t even finished paying for them when we’re jettisoning them,” Holcomb said.

Local election officials have also warned that hand-marking ballots physically will slow down polling places and lead to much longer wait times. Because Georgia law requires one uniform voting system across all 159 counties, committee leaders noted there is no room for local trial and error.

“Georgia is a little unique. We’re one of just a handful of states in the country that require a uniform system across the state,” said State Rep. Victor Anderson (R-Cornelia), who serves as the House co-chair.

On Friday, the committee unanimously voted to approve its operating rules and locked in its schedule for the fall.

The panel scheduled four public hearings to gather testimony from experts and stakeholders, with the first meeting set for Sept. 3.

The committee must submit its final recommended roadmap to the governor and the General Assembly by January 2027, to allow lawmakers enough time to draft and vote on legislation.