Georgia election officials have less than three months to convert the state’s entire voting system from touchscreen machines to paper ballots, after the state Senate failed to vote Friday on legislation that would have delayed the conversion until 2028. 

The rushed system switch risks compromising election security and will complicate ballot counting, delay reporting results and create “widespread confusion” for voters and election administrators, county officials say.

Georgia’s current touchscreen system generates QR codes for ballot counting. But in 2024 GOP state lawmakers voted to sunset these machines by July 1 of this year, making it illegal to use them beyond that. Last week, the state Senate passed a bill to change over to a completely hand-marked ballot system. 

However, local election officials urged lawmakers to delay that switch until 2028 so that they would have time to put the new system in place, which would include pre-printing millions of ballots and re-training election workers.

The state House passed a bipartisan bill this morning that would’ve allowed for that two-year grace period. But the Senate – led by Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R), who is running for the GOP nomination for governor – declined to bring it forward for a vote Friday, the final day of this year’s legislative session. 

That means election officials now have until July 1 to develop a system where voters use a pen to fill in oval bubbles to select their candidates. 

“This proposal would create widespread confusion for Georgia voters and election officials,” said Joseph Kirk, a county election supervisor and president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials (GAVREO), last month. “Simply put, transitioning to a new election system and implementing major changes to the voting process this close to the 2026 general election is unworkable.”

Among the problems with doing a ballot system conversion in a crunch – and so close to midterms and Georgia’s gubernatorial election – is that the bill offers no funding for implementing the switch or for technology that could help expedite it. It also creates a security risk, according to GAVREO, given that election officials have little time to train staff and develop protective measures for guarding the millions of pre-printed ballots required by the law before Election Day. 

Election officials also warn that the law’s new reporting requirements will cause delays in ballot counting and in delivering timely results. Those problems often trigger chaos, controversy and conspiracy theories, as seen in the fallout over Fulton County’s 2020 election ballot count, which is still being probed today. 

Leaders of both parties are now scrambling to see if they can make other modifications or resuscitate the delayed deadline through a special emergency session.

Bottom of the 5th

Top of the 5th

Coleman Lewis came into the game and hit a one out home run to push Georgia Tech’s lead to 15-0 and after Rogers struck out swinging, Baker hit his second home run of the night to make it 16-0. Burress then walked and Brosius entered the game in place of Lackey and he walked to put two runners on. A pair of wild pitches advanced the runners and scored Burress to make it 17-0 and then Cal got the final out,

Bottom of the 4th

McKee gives up two singles, but no runs. GT leads 14-0 heading to the 5th

Top of the 4th

A solo home run from Baker made it 13-0 in favor of Georgia Tech and then after a pair of walks, a sac fly from Hernandez made it 14-0. Schmidt flew out to end the inning, but the lead has grown by two runs.

Bottom of the 3rd

Scoreless 1-2-3 inning for McKee. GT leads 12-0 heading to the 4th

Top of the 3rd

Burress got things started with a leadoff single and then a walk from Lackey put two runners on with no outs. A 2-RBI triple from Advincula pushed the lead to 11-0 and then after a walk from Hernandez, Schmidt drove in Advincula to make it 12-0. Yellow Jackets did not add any more and they lead 12-0 heading to the bottom of the 3rd

Bottom of the 2nd

McKee walks one and gives up a single, but keeps Cal off the board. GT leads 9-0 heading to the 3rd

Top of the 2nd

Scoreless 1-2-3 inning for GT. Yellow Jackets lead 9-0 heading to the bottom of the 2nd

Bottom of the 1st

Scoreless 1-2-3 inning for McKee. GT leads 9-0 heading to the 2nd

Top of the 1st

Burress got a leadoff walk and then Lackey doubled to put runners on second and third with no outs. A 2-RBI double from Advincula gave Georgia Tech an early 2-0 lead. Advincula advanced to third on a wild pitch and after Hernandez walked, Schmidt drove in Advincula with a sac fly to make it 3-0.

Zuckerman then singled to put runners on the corners and that led to an RBI double from Kerce to make it 4-0 with just one out. A throwing error scored Zuckerman and put Kerce on third and Daniel on first. That was it for the Golden Bears starting pitcher and they made a change.

The change did not produce immediate results. An RBI single from Baker made it 6-0 and after Burress struck out swinging, another error scored Daniel to make it 7-0 and then Advincula came up with another big hit, with an RBI double pushing the lead to 8-0. Hernandez walked in his second at bat of the inning and then Schmidt drew a bases loaded walk to make it 9-0. Then, Cal made another pitching change for the Golden Bears. Zuckerman struck out swinging, but it was a huge inning for GT

Pregame

RHP Tate McKee (4-0) is on the mound today and here is how Georgia Tech is going to be lining up:

1. CF Drew Burress

2. C Vahn Lackey

3. 2B Jarren Advincula

4. RF Alex Hernandez

5. 1B Kent Schmidt

6. 3B Ryan Zuckerman

7. SS Carson Kerce

8. LF Caleb Daniel

9. DH Will Baker

The No. 3 ranked Yellow Jackets enter the weekend series at Cal with a 23-5 (9-3 ACC) record, the best 28-game record since 2010.

Tech has won 23 games with five or fewer losses for only the 11th time in the program’s 131 seasons: 2010, 2008, 2003, 2002, 1997, 1994, 1992, 1990, 1971 and 1906 Head coach James Ramsey is tied with his predecessor, Danny Hall, for the best record by any first-year GT head coach through the first 28 games of their tenure.

Jarren Advincula is making his return to the Bay Area after playing each of the first two seasons of his college career at Cal. The junior enters the weekend leading the ACC in hits (47) and in the midst of a 12-game hitting streak. Should he collect a hit in all three games this weekend, he would match his career long hitting streak.

This will be the just the second weekend series between Georgia Tech and Cal and the 7th, 8th and 9th meetings overall. GT leads the all-time series 4-2 after winning all four games against the Golden Bears last season – a 3-0 series sweep in Atlanta and a 10-3 victory in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals in which the Yellow Jackets set an ACC Tournament record with seven home runs.

The Jackets went 3-0 in the state of California last season when they became the first college baseball team from east of the Mississippi River to sweep Stanford, at Stanford in a three-game series.