ATLANTA — Wednesday, Georgia lawmakers grilled Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger as he presented his proposed budget at the capitol.
Lawmakers in both parties have raised concerns about the state’s computerized voting system. The manufacturer says it needs a software update but hasn’t gotten it, and it uses QR codes that have raised many questions among critics.
Republicans have introduced legislation to eliminate QR codes – saying the squarish printed image is unreadable by the human eye.
"I don’t think you have to change the law to remove the QR codes," state Sen. Blake Tillery (R-Vidalia), chairman of the senate appropriations committee, told Raffensperger after the secretary presented his budget.
"If we’re going to do something like that, it would be physically impossible to have that done for this election cycle," Raffensperger told the committee.
"But that technology existed last year when we started this discussion, I thought," Tillery protested.
"If we actually changed it, it would require changing out all the scanners for actually recording the ballots," Raffensperger said. Every voting precinct in Georgia uses scanners to read the QR codes of printed ballots.
Raffensperger said his office is already deep in the process of preparing 2024 ballots based on new maps enacted only last month by lawmakers. But his critics persisted.
"Every one of our committee members said their citizens do not trust the QR code. So why don’t we just go ahead and get rid of it?" asked state Sen. Brandon Beach (R-Alpharetta). "We don’t need legislation. And let's help you get the scanners you need."
Raffensperger said time is too short, with the presidential primary scheduled for March 12 and early voting due to start Feb. 19.
"We have in Georgia 159 counties. We have over 2500 different voting systems. You also have all the different voting machines," Raffensperger said. "You’re talking about a major change. We’re already in the election cycle of 2024.
Raffensperger said he would support efforts to reprogram voting machines and eliminate QR codes – but not until after the presidential election is concluded less than 10 months from now