New Georgia Bill Would Mandate Paper Ballots
A bill requiring paper ballots would address election integrity concerns and provide Georgia a cheaper option than Dominion voting machines.
Three Georgia state senators have sponsored a bill to mandate hand-marked paper ballots in every election. This would save the state and counties money and ensure the extinction of most concerns voters have had about election integrity in the state.
Senate Bill 303 removes all voting equipment and requires every primary and general election to be conducted with “hand marked and hand counted paper ballots.” It applies to “county, state, and federal elections” and requires “the same type of paper ballots used for absentee ballots.”
The bill also transfers responsibility of election certification from the Secretary of State to the State Election Board.
Gov. Bryan Kemp (R) signed a bill last year that requires the state to do away with the QR codes on its ballots by July 1, 2026 that the Dominion Voting Systems machines use to read voters’ choices. However, the legislature has not set aside any money for the change, meaning it will have to allocate as much as $300 million if the state continues to use electronic voting equipment.
Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger (R), who has consistently defended Dominion and opposes any changes to the system, has lobbied the legislature to delay the deadline to do away with QR codes for another 5 years, citing the high costs associated with it.
Last September, the Georgia State Election Board approved a measure in a 3–2 vote that required election workers to hand count ballots to ensure their number matches the number of voters recorded at each precinct. President Donald Trump praised the three members who voted for the measure, “They’re on fire. They’re doing a great job. Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King, three people are all pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”
They didn’t only face fierce opposition from Democrats and leftist groups, however. Attorney General Chris Carr (R) and Raffensperger viciously attacked the board and the three members who voted for handcounts—even though the rule didn’t require a handcount of the votes themselves, only the number of ballots.
Even in liberal Illinois, hand counting ballots is seen as uncontroversial, according to Matt Dietrich, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections, who argued, “It’s designed to ensure integrity and voter trust and by all accounts has worked.”
A judge blocked the rule in an ACLU-brought lawsuit before the election.
Building Trust
Moving to all paper ballots, however, would be a much cheaper and more secure option.
VoterGA co-founder Garland Favorito agrees: “Experts have identified dozens of unresolvable security issues and explained in court the Dominion system cannot be retrofitted for proper security.”
In a speech to governors last month, President Donald Trump made the case for hand-marked paper ballots, arguing “for safety, and security, and the good of our nation,” they should adopt them even if it were to cost 10 times more. He noted, though, that it would “actually cost a tiny fraction” and save the governors tens of millions of dollars.
Also, because of the low costs associated with paper ballots, accusations of impropriety and corruption surrounding the companies that receive state contracts for vote tabulation would diminish, restoring confidence in voters in election integrity and their state government overall.
SB 303 would also forever preclude credible accusations of foreign interference in Georgia’s election process, as it bans equipment capable “of being accessed remotely.” It also requires that “all such tabulation, result publication, and voter authentication equipment” be American-made and American-owned.
If passed into law, this bill will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.
(READ MORE: Georgia Exiting ERIC Would Be a Major Victory for Election Transparency)
