Big votes planned on Georgia immigration, spending and transgender bills

It’s uncertain whether the legislation will advance Thursday or die without receiving a vote in the Senate.

Election laws

A variety of changes to Georgia’s election laws could receive final votes Thursday, with bills that would set criteria to challenge voters’ eligibility, allow election officials to reduce the number of voting machines on election day and criminalize deceptive “deepfake” political ads.

The Republican-sponsored package of bills would alter how the state conducts elections in many ways.

Mass challenges to voters’ eligibility — a cause taken up by conservative activists who say they want to remove outdated voter registrations — would be upheld if they can show someone voted in another state, claimed a homestead exemption in a different jurisdiction or registered at a nonresidential address. But challenges wouldn’t be considered within 45 days of an election, and students and members of the military would be protected.

The package of bills would also allow county election directors to reduce the number of voting machines on election day to reflect expected turnout, create ballot handling standards and post ballot pictures online for public review.

In addition, lawmakers are considering adding watermarks to ballots, increasing the number of election audits and eliminating the use of computer-generated QR codes to count votes.

Culture war

Republican leaders in the state Senate are pursuing several bills dealing with transgender bathroom use, sex education and puberty-blocking medication.

Transgender students would be banned from using bathrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identity under House Bill 1104. Republicans effectively already banned transgender girls from sports in 2022, when they encouraged the Georgia High School Association to change its policy, which it did.

Sex education would be prohibited in schools before sixth grade, and students would not receive any sex education unless parents opt in. If requested, parents would be informed about every book their children check out from a school library.

A separate measure, House Bill 1170, would restrict puberty-blocking medication for transgender children under age 18. The Legislature restricted hormone replacement therapy for trans minors last year.

_____