Raffensperger: There's No Time to Remove QR Codes off Georgia Ballots This Year

GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stated last week that there isn't enough time to exclude QR codes from paper ballots in Georgia, as suggested by Republican legislative leaders, before this year's elections.

During the second day of parliamentary hearings on Governor Brian Kemp's budget recommendations, Raffensperger stated, "I would support moving to human-readable text." 

"The difficult part is finishing it in time for the 2024 election."

In 2019, the General Assembly enacted an act that established a paper backup for electronic voting to increase Georgians' trust that their votes are being correctly recorded. 

However, some voters have expressed dissatisfaction with the complicated and opaque QR codes that come with paper votes.

No time to take QR codes off Georgia ballots this year

Speaker of the Georgia House Jon Burns, a Republican from Newington, stated last week that House Republicans will work to get rid of QR codes.

Since this past fall, Republicans in the Senate have been advocating for the removal of QR codes.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, informed Raffensperger on Wednesday that "we've been talking about getting rid of the QR codes for a long time." 

"The QR code is not trusted by the public."

Yet, Raffensperger noted that the elections this year are coming up quickly.

The presidential primary is scheduled for March, and the congressional and legislative primary elections are scheduled for May.

He declared, "We're already into the 2024 election." "We're sticking with the current system."

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