Georgia’s ballot QR code crisis is resolved for now, but a late change to an elections bill passed during last month’s special session adds a new twist to the question of how future elections across the state will be run.

Under a state law passed in 2024, Georgia could no longer use QR codes to count ballots after July 1, but state lawmakers repeatedly failed to appropriate the funds needed to make the switch ahead of the self-imposed deadline. The question of how to count votes had threatened to destabilize the state’s midterm elections.

The updated bill, which allows the state to continue using QR codes to tally votes until 2028, mandates additional post-election audits on certain statewide contests and establishes a special committee to help select the state’s next voting system, has been signed into law by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.

A last-minute amendment from Covington Rep. Tim Fleming, the Republican nominee for secretary of state, also instructs the special committee to narrow its focus to hand-marked paper ballot systems, which would represent a shift away from Georgia’s system that uses voting machines to mark ballots.

The amendment also specifically designates ballot on-demand printing – where voters receive an individualized ballot printed after they check in to the polling place – as the preferred method, rather than relying upon preprinted paper ballots.

The legislature could still choose to enact a different type of voting system, but many Republican lawmakers and conservative advocates have signaled a preference for hand-marked paper ballots.

“This is just setting the parameters around what this committee will look at as far as the next statewide voting system,” Fleming told a legislative committee recently. Fleming did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Penny Brown Reynolds of Atlanta, the Democratic nominee for secretary of state, also did not respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Saira Draper, an Atlanta Democrat and election lawyer, said that while she wasn’t necessarily opposed to a system like the one Fleming proposed, she would have preferred for the committee to be free to explore all the options available, including alternate voting systems.

“By putting in that amendment during a committee meeting that was not receiving public comment, where there was very little time before the bill hit the floor, it’s really a disservice because it narrows the scope of the committee’s work unnecessarily,” she said. “As long as we’re going to go through the process of selecting new equipment, we should be doing so with transparency and integrity.”

Georgia’s voting machines were purchased for $107 million in 2019 and manufactured by Dominion Voting Systems, which is now known as Liberty Vote. The machines were used statewide in Georgia for the first time during the 2020 election.

But the company became a target of media outlets like Fox News, Newsmax and One America News Network, who circulated false claims about the validity of the 2020 election results and accused Liberty Vote of rigging the election in favor of former President Joe Biden. Trump-aligned attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell also claimed that the company had conspired to switch votes in Biden’s favor.

Liberty Vote has since received millions of dollars in settlements after filing a series of lawsuits against those who claimed the company conspired to rig the 2020 election.

At least five different U.S.-based companies, including Liberty Vote, offer on-demand ballot printing, according to Verified Voting, a nonprofit organization that tracks election equipment across the country.

The state does rely on paper ballots to tally the official results, though only absentee and provisional ballots are marked by hand. Georgia is also one of the few states that uses one type of election equipment statewide, meaning that a shift in the vendor who supplies the results would impact all of the state’s 159 counties.

Mark Lindeman, Verified Voting’s policy and strategy director, said Fleming’s amendment largely aligns with the organization’s recommendation that most voters use ballots marked by hand and counted by machines, which they see as having the fewest risks and ensures that election officials can verify the outcome of an election. Precincts will still be required to have a certain number of ballot-marking devices to fulfill federal accessibility requirements though.

“I think it’s a good path for Georgia to adopt for 2028,” Lindeman said, noting that the extended deadline was crucial to give state and local officials time to switch over to the new system. “There have been proposals to try to roll this out somehow this year, and I just didn’t see how any of those could work. There just wasn’t enough time to put it together.”

However, Fleming’s amendment did not include many specifics around the use of printers that provide individualized ballots at polling places,and notably did not restrict legislators from considering a different system.

Among states that use the on-demand printed ballot system, Lindeman said, many still rely on preprinted ballots on election day itself in case any technical difficulties arise.

“Because Election Day is the last opportunity to vote, I would not want to make Election Day any more dependent upon printing ballots at the last possible moment than it absolutely has to be,” he said. “If (Georgia) required ballot on-demand for all in-person voting, I think that would be pretty distinctive.”

Joseph Kirk, the Bartow County elections director and president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, said his organization supported the bill, but he noted that switching to a hand-marked paper ballot system could create some changes for the election workers who are tallying results, particularly when it comes to hand recounts.

“One of the features of our current voting system is there’s not a lot of question about the voter’s intent,” Kirk said.

Digital selections mean that there aren’t a lot of extraneous marks on the page that could confuse a machine or instances where voters crossed a name out and selected a different one as sometimes happens with hand-marked ballots.

“With the hand-marked system, there will be more questions about the voter’s intent,” he said.

As a result, he added, the margins of victory could change more drastically during a hand recount under a hand-marked system than it would under a system that relies on machine-marked votes.

“And that’s OK, there’s ways to work through that,” Kirk said. “We’re just not used to it.”

Read more at GeorgiaRecorder.com.

| July 6, 2026

The Georgia Recreational Trail Riders Association (GARTRA) hosts two annual dual sport rides: the Hooch every June and the Fall Foliage Ride each October or November. These events serve as the club’s longstanding biannual fundraising activities. Established in 1992 as a volunteer-run nonprofit dedicated to promoting and enhancing public off-road motorized recreation areas across Georgia, GARTRA currently has 225 active members.

Photos by Jen Muecke

Beyond being a fundraising mechanism, each event also celebrates responsible trail stewardship and serves as an all-important communal gathering of like-minded motorcyclists. Based at the famous North Georgia motorcycle meet-up destination Two Wheels of Suches, attendees come from neighboring states, including Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as from distant Florida and Ohio, each year to enjoy two unique routes, each covering 120-plus miles of scenic Appalachia, winding through the Chattahoochee National Forest and surrounding areas. Designed to accommodate both novice and experienced dual sport riders, the routes offer a mix of easy gravel roads, rocky climbs, forest service roads and optional advanced sections, including legitimate single-track inside the OHV trail system Whissinghunt, one of seven state-run trail systems that GARTRA maintains in cooperation with the Forest Service—all connected by perfectly placed short stretches of quiet, country two-lane paved roads to tie it all together.

Historically, navigation was handled via roll-chart route sheets, an antiquated, old-school but beloved method that adds to the event’s traditional dual sport character. However, this year riders were offered GPX files as well as a free trail map on onX Maps for those inclined to enter the new millennium of motorcycle-navigation technology. OnX not only supports the club with navigation but is also a corporate partner that has contributed to several trail-work projects since joining the club.

GARTRA’s mission has always been to promote sustainable trail access, and The Hooch and Fall Foliage rides embody that ethos. Riders aren’t racing; they’re exploring, navigating and appreciating the rugged beauty of North Georgia’s mountains while supporting the organization that helps maintain access to those very trails. In fact, the club maintains seven different state OHV areas from the Atlanta metro area to the North Georgia borders of Tennessee and North Carolina, with help from their sponsors, including Wooly’s Cycles of Atlanta, Viasat, Extreme Terrain (Clean Trail Initiative), Cycle Specialty, Highland Park Off Road Resort, Butler | Kahn, and BikeGraphix.

Additionally, supporting the club through a grant process is the Yamaha Outdoor Access Initiative (OAI). The club has been awarded multiple grants over the past few years for much-needed supplies and trail equipment in the form of Yamaha ATVs, gravel carts, chainsaws, hand tools and more. With this support, the club has been able to keep OHV areas open by working with the Forest Service, performing regular trail maintenance and rehabilitating staging areas. However, while the grants and support from sponsors are needed, the most valuable resource is the volunteer club members that make the “magic” happen through hard work and manual labor at monthly trail-work days at each of the seven OHV areas they manage. This effort has not gone unnoticed by the Forest Service, helping build a strong working relationship that has resulted in plans to build new trails, a first for state-managed off-road recreational areas since the original OHV sites were created!

If you missed this year’s Hooch Ride, don’t worry, the Fall Foliage Ride is just around the corner. Come out for the self-led ride, enjoy the colors of fall and support the GARTRA motorcycle club and the good work they are doing in the state of Georgia. Can’t make the trip or too far from your local region? Check out the AMA dual sport page for events closer to home, and support or join your local motorcycle club. They are the boots on the ground putting in the work to keep our riding areas open, with all funds generated by the club put to good use to increase advocacy for proper motorized off-road use, maintain public land access, preserve trails and develop new trails. All to the benefit of the local motorcycle community.CN

Learn more at https://gartra.org/outdoors/

ATLANTA – Democrats have secured early leads in Georgia’s high-profile Senate and gubernatorial races, according to a recent Fox News poll.

What we know:

The initial post-primary polling shows incumbent U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff leading Republican nominee Mike Collins by 13 percentage points, 56% to 43%. In the gubernatorial race, Democratic nominee Keisha Lance Bottoms holds a 5-point lead over Republican Rick Jackson, 52% to 47%.

Democrats currently maintain early margins with core demographics, including younger and Black voters. However, political analysts and strategists from both parties note that these initial multi-point advantages are expected to fluctuate as general election campaigns expand their messaging.

What we don’t know:

While initial metrics favor the Democratic ticket, officials have not yet confirmed how these margins will hold up as the race tightens. Strategists note it remains unclear exactly how independent and moderate voters will lean once both campaigns fully deploy their contrasting platforms.

Dig deeper:

With general election matchups officially set following highly competitive primary runoffs, both parties are framing the races through distinct career backgrounds. 

Republicans plan to highlight private-sector experience, contrasting it with the sitting incumbent’s record, while Democrats are building their platform around public service and state-level engagement.

What they’re saying:

GOP strategist Loretta Lepore said Collins intends to center his platform on business management and legislative performance. 

“So, I think Mike Collins has been very clear that he intends to use the resume as his weapon,” Lepore said, noting his background running a trucking company. “And he’s going to make an issue of that with Senator Ossoff, who the Republican Party is already branding as a trust fund baby, and they will perpetuate that.”

Democratic strategist Tharon Johnson argued that Ossoff’s multi-year tenure provides a visible baseline of leadership. 

“Jon Ossoff. He has been laser-like focused on getting around Georgia in a governing capacity,” Johnson said. “He’s been our Senator now for over 5 and a half years.”

FOX News poll: Jon Ossoff holds double-digit lead over Mike Collins

Big picture view:

Lepore noted that while Ossoff is carrying core electorates like Black and young voters, the real concern for Republicans lies with the center. 

“Where the concern would be, I think, for Republicans is with the moderate and independent voters, because for whichever candidate wins, this race is going to have to carry that segment of the voting population,” Lepore said.

Johnson acknowledged the polling helps Democrats raise money and profile, but agreed the race will tighten. 

“Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff have shown us the model,” Johnson said, describing a “base plus strategy” that requires motivating the core party base while remaining appealing to independents and moderates.