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Board member urges end to QR-code ballot tabulation, says lawmakers ignored voters' mandate
Summary
A member of the Cobb County Board of Elections criticized continued use of QR-code ballot tabulation, citing a statewide referendum he said produced 825,652 'yes' votes for paper ballots and arguing QR codes prevent independent voter verification under HAVA.
A member of the Cobb County Board of Elections and Registration used board-member comments to sharply criticize the continued use of QR-code ballot tabulation in Georgia and to urge legislators to heed what the speaker characterized as a voter mandate.
Identified in the meeting only by role as the board chair, the speaker said Republican voters across the state overwhelmingly supported replacing machine-generated QR-code ballots with paper ballots in a May 19 referendum, and criticized recent legislation that delays the removal of QR-code tabulation. "The total of votes in support of paper ballots was 825,652 yes votes," the chair said, adding that the use of QR codes prevents voters from independently verifying how their votes are counted.
The chair argued that because scanners tabulate the QR code rather than the human-readable text on the ballot, voters cannot confirm the machine has recorded their intent. The speaker referenced the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) in arguing that independent verifiability is required and criticized recent state legislative changes (the speaker referenced SB 189 and a bill described in the transcript as delaying compliance) as extending a technical defect rather than remedying it.
The speaker also criticized the board’s internal handling of a request that counsel send a letter to the legislature about the QR-code legislation, saying the request was sent late on a Sunday with a short turnaround and describing that as not transparent or collaborative. No direct rebuttal or alternative position on the merits of QR-code technology was recorded in the meeting transcript.
The board did not take any formal action on voting systems during the meeting. The comment stands as a public record of the board member’s position; staff and other board members later thanked elections personnel for their work during the recent election.
What’s next: No further board action on voting systems was scheduled at the meeting; the speaker urged legislators and peers to consider measures to increase voter verifiability.
