FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2026
Georgia Senate Passes SB 3EX: Another Two-Year Delay Leaves Voters with Unverifiable Ballots and Continued Non-Compliance with Federal Law
ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate passed SB 3EX on June 20, 2026, extending the deadline for addressing the state’s current voting system until January 1, 2028. The bill also creates a committee to recommend a new electronic voting system, expands Risk-Limiting Audits (RLAs) to additional races, and includes a last-minute compromise for a full hand count of the top two races on the ballot.
While supporters frame these measures as progress, the legislation fails to resolve the fundamental problems that have plagued Georgia’s elections since the 2019 passage of HB 316. Georgians will continue voting on an unverifiable system for at least two more years.
The bill does not fix the core issues:
- The unverifiable QR-code tabulated ballots produced by the current Ballot Marking Devices (BMDs) do not meet the requirements of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) under 52 USC Section 21081(a)(1)(A)(iii). This deficiency has been known since at least October 2020, yet the state continues to use a system that cannot produce a voter-verifiable paper record of the voter’s actual selections.
- Even with the expansion of Risk-Limiting Audits, the method remains fundamentally flawed. Dr. Phillip Stark, the creator of the RLA methodology, has testified that an RLA is not a valid test for accuracy when the audit relies on the BMD-printed summary as the source of truth. Once the touchscreen is closed, the voter’s actual intent—what was displayed on the screen—can never be known or verified.
- Hand counting only the top two races on unverifiable ballots does not bring clarity or confidence to the election results. This approach leaves all down-ballot races without meaningful verification. The experience in DeKalb County with the Michelle Long Spears County Commission race illustrates the problem: she received zero votes in her own precinct under the current system. Only after a forced manual hand count did she move from third place to first, demonstrating how unverifiable tabulation can distort outcomes.
Georgia taxpayers are still paying off the $107 million, 20-year bond for the existing system that failed to meet the standards set in the authorizing legislation, HB 316, in 2019. The new bill sets the stage for yet another expensive electronic voting system recommendation while the state has not delivered what voters have repeatedly demanded: hand-marked paper ballots (HMBP). In the May primary, 90 percent of voters expressed support for HMBP. The state remains out of compliance with federal HAVA law.
Sam Carnline, co-founder of Georgians For Truth, issued the following statement:
“SB 3EX is another delay dressed up as reform. Georgia voters deserve hand-marked paper ballots and a full hand count of every race to verify tabulation before certification. Decentralizing the process by bringing it back to the people at the local precinct is the only way to restore trust. We will not accept another expensive electronic system while we are still paying for one that never worked.”
Georgians For Truth continues to call on state leaders to immediately implement hand-marked paper ballots and hand counting of all races to ensure every vote is verifiable and every election is conducted with integrity.
Correction: The correct federal law citation is 52 USC Section 21081(a)(1)(A)(iii). It’s been corrected above.