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Fewer Georgia voting machines proposed as Senate panel passes election bills

Mark Niesse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on

Published in Political News

Georgia’s presidential primary went smoothly last week without any lines.

Under Georgia’s voting law passed in 2021, if voters have to wait in line for more than an hour for general elections, counties are required to open additional voting locations or reassign voters to other voting locations for the next election.

The measures approved Monday combine several bills that have been previously debated during this year’s legislative session, and they could reach final votes in the coming days before this year’s legislative session ends March 28.

The bills also guarantee that official poll watchers have access to voting locations and can sit or stand “as close as is practicable” to election workers.

Another proposal would set up a program to scan the human-readable text printed on ballots to ensure that they were counted correctly from computer QR codes.

The program would cost an estimated $6 million, and Senate Ethics Chairman Max Burns said legislators are considering the cost during budget negotiations.

 

At least two other election bills are also under consideration this week.

A bill that would criminalize using deepfake computer-generated versions of politicians to deceive voters cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday.

And the Senate Ethics Committee plans to debate a bill Tuesday that would, in part, provide more ways for activists to challenge the eligibility of registered voters in Georgia.

Over 100,000 voter registrations have been challenged since 2021 by Republicans who say they’re trying to remove individuals who appear to have moved away.

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©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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