ATLANTA — Georgia lawmakers finished the 2026 special session after declining to pursue new district maps and passing a law that allows continued use of QR codes for official vote counting until 2028. These victories are the result of months of work by voting rights groups and community members who pushed for practical solutions to protect voters and keep trust in Georgia’s elections.
“This special session shows what happens when Georgians come together and speak up in support of fair and free elections. Georgians across the state helped create better results for all eligible voters. We are still concerned about requiring certain hand recounts because they are slower, costlier, and can lead to more mistakes than current methods. However, giving the state more time to adopt a new vote tabulation structure avoids rushing into a new system and allows for careful planning, funding, and testing,” said Christopher Bruce, deputy executive director, ACLU of Georgia.
Hours before the special session began, leadership in the state House of Representatives announced that they would not proceed with redistricting. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais, communities worried the legislature would follow other Southern states in redrawing maps to weaken the political influence of Black voters. Advocates pushed lawmakers not to consider new voting maps and helped retain stability and fair representation for Georgia voters.
Lawmakers did pass SB 3EX, moving the deadline for Georgia to stop using QR codes for official vote counting from July 1, 2026, to January 1, 2028. Soon after the Georgia General Assembly established the July deadline in Senate Bill 189 (2024), elections officials statewide warned that the timeline could cause major problems for elections.
Initially, language in SB 3EX also required hand recounts of ballots in almost every election. After hearing concerns from election officials, voting rights groups, and community members, lawmakers changed their proposal. Now, the bill only requires hand recounts for the top two statewide races if the margin is within 0.5%.
The ACLU of Georgia will continue fighting to ensure that every eligible voter can cast a ballot, have that ballot counted, and participate fully in our democracy.
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