(The Center Square) – The Rules Committee in the Georgia House of Representatives agreed on Thursday afternoon to move a bill to the floor that would delay the elimination of QR codes used to count votes.
The General Assembly passed Senate Bill 189 in 2024, requiring the elimination of the codes by July 1. Lawmakers have scrambled to determine how they would make changes before the November general election.
Senate Bill 214 delays the changes and would require the state to have a new voting system by 2028.
The bill passed the Senate, but senators also approved a bill requiring hand-counted ballots for the November election.
The amended bill, presented by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, on Friday, included some of the same language as Senate Bill 568, which failed on crossover day. House Bill 960 still requires hand-marked ballots for the November 2026 general election and requires a manual recount of some elections.
In its original form, House Bill 960, sponsored by Lilburn Democrat Jasmine Clark, would have added a 12th Superior Court judge to the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit. As of Thursday afternoon, House Bill 960 is not on the calendar.
Lawmakers are working on several bills on the last day of the 2026 session, including the fiscal year 2027 budget and tax breaks.
The Senate is proposing a reduction in the standard deduction to reduce income taxes. The House and Senate have approved a bill that would cap local property tax growth at 3% or the rate of inflation, whichever is greater.