Georgia state senators are taking another stab at ditching the state’s touchscreen voting system and replacing it with paper ballots filled out by hand.

A sweeping proposal passed by the Senate Ethics Committee on Monday would require switching to preprinted, handmarked paper ballots scanned by machines, end county- and municipality-wide in-person early voting, and overhaul how the state conducts election audits. It’s unclear how much the dramatic changes would cost to implement.

Backed by Senate Republican leaders, it reaffirms the position of influential senators to switch to paper ballots, although the House has taken no action on another Senate paper ballot proposal already in the House.

Georgia officials have until July to stop counting votes with QR codes. Lawmakers have until the end of the legislative session next month to figure out how to comply with the deadline.
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Georgians will vote in the May primaries with countywide early voting and touch-screens. But come the November general election, voters would use paper ballots bubbled in by hand and be limited to one assigned early voting site if Senate Bill 568 passes.