Georgia’s State Election Board has asked federal officials to investigate the state’s voting equipment, require security-related software upgrades and move away from QR-code ballot tabulation, escalating a dispute with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger less than two weeks before early voting begins.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Georgia’s State Election Board has asked the Justice Department to intervene in the state’s voting system weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, seeking an investigation, immediate software changes and restrictions on the use of QR codes to tabulate ballots.
James Mills, executive director of the State Election Board, sent letters Wednesday to Attorney General Todd Blanche, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin outlining concerns about voting-system security, ballot secrecy and access to election records.
The request followed a 3-2 vote by the board directing Mills to seek federal involvement in the dispute. The board’s action and Mills’ letter were highlighted in a social-media post this week.
Among the most consequential requests, Mills asked federal officials to require Georgia to install updated voting-system software and prohibit what he characterized as unreadable QR-code-based vote tabulation. He also sought a binding six-month deadline for moving away from the current system if federal officials determine it does not comply with election law.
Georgia’s in-person voting system uses ballot-marking devices that allow voters to make selections on a touchscreen before producing a paper ballot containing both a human-readable summary of those selections and a QR code. The scanner uses the QR code to electronically tabulate the ballot.
The Election Assistance Commission continues to list Democracy Suite 5.5-A, the system version associated with Georgia’s equipment, as a federally certified voting system. The manufacturer, formerly Dominion Voting Systems, was purchased by Liberty Vote USA.
The dispute centers in part on known cybersecurity issues identified in previous versions of the ImageCast X ballot-marking equipment.
Federal cybersecurity officials disclosed vulnerabilities in the equipment in 2022 and recommended mitigation measures. At the time, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said it had no evidence that the vulnerabilities had been exploited in an election or affected election results. Researchers who identified the vulnerabilities likewise said they were unaware of evidence showing that the flaws had been used to change votes, while warning that the weaknesses should nevertheless be addressed.
Updated software was subsequently developed, but Georgia has not completed a statewide transition to the newer version.
Mills is now asking federal officials to compel that update before the November election. Georgia election administrators say installing new software throughout the state cannot realistically be completed in the short period remaining before voting begins because the process requires installation, testing and preparation across 159 counties.
The software itself is available without a licensing charge, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting, but installing it statewide requires personnel and testing. Election-security specialists have also warned that making substantial software changes immediately before an election can itself introduce operational risks.
The State Election Board’s demands extend beyond voting-machine software.
Mills accused Raffensperger’s office of restricting the board’s access to election records and requested federal scrutiny of allegations involving the preservation or alteration of records. His letters also raised questions about voter-registration and motor-vehicle data provided to outside organizations.
Mills asked federal officials to require preservation and forensic examination of election servers, scanners and related data and to hold Raffensperger or other officials accountable if investigators determine records were improperly withheld or altered.
Those are allegations and requests for investigation; the letter itself does not establish that Raffensperger or other Georgia officials unlawfully altered election records.
Raffensperger’s office sharply rejected the board’s approach and argued that attempting major election-system changes immediately before voting could disrupt preparations.
People who are “serious” about election security do not “inject chaos in the eleventh hour,” the secretary of state’s office said in response to the letter, according to the Washington Examiner.
“In roughly 30 days, Georgia’s 159 election directors will conduct a free, fair, and fast election for all eligible Georgia voters,” Raffensperger spokeswoman Michon Lindstrom added.
The clash comes at a particularly sensitive point in Georgia’s election calendar.
Advance in-person voting for the Nov. 3 general election begins Oct. 13, according to the official 2026 election calendar maintained by the Georgia secretary of state. Mandatory Saturday voting is scheduled for Oct. 17 and Oct. 24, with counties permitted to offer Sunday voting on Oct. 18 and Oct. 25.
That leaves little time for any statewide equipment modification before voters begin casting ballots.
The board is also seeking changes because of a separate ballot-privacy concern that has emerged in Georgia.
Researchers recently demonstrated that publicly available election records could potentially be combined with other information and artificial intelligence tools to connect individual voters with their ballots, raising questions about ballot secrecy. Raffensperger responded by directing officials to redact certain ballot-identification numbers from records released publicly.
The State Election Board has argued that the issue adds urgency to its demand for technological changes.
Its Sept. 30 letters asked federal agencies to declare Georgia’s current system noncompliant, require immediate installation of updated software and establish a deadline for replacing the existing QR-code tabulation method.
The broader disagreement reflects a long-running division within Georgia’s Republican leadership over election administration.
Raffensperger’s office is responsible for overseeing the state’s elections, while the State Election Board establishes rules, investigates alleged election-law violations and refers matters for enforcement. The two offices have repeatedly disagreed over access to records, election procedures and proposed changes to voting equipment.
The latest federal request places the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security in the middle of that conflict shortly before a major statewide election.
No federal agency had publicly announced an order requiring Georgia to replace its voting system or abandon QR-code tabulation as of Friday.
The dispute therefore remains unresolved as counties prepare equipment, train election workers and complete required logic-and-accuracy testing ahead of the start of early voting.
Underlying the confrontation are two issues that are not necessarily contradictory: documented technical vulnerabilities have previously been identified in Georgia’s voting equipment, while federal cybersecurity officials have also said they found no evidence those vulnerabilities were exploited to alter past election results.
The State Election Board argues that known vulnerabilities and questions surrounding QR-code tabulation justify federal intervention before another election is conducted.
Raffensperger’s office contends that attempting to overhaul the statewide system days before early voting would create unnecessary disruption and says Georgia election officials are prepared to administer the Nov. 3 election under the existing procedures.
With early voting beginning Oct. 13, the Justice Department now faces the board’s request at a point when any federal action could have immediate consequences for election preparations throughout Georgia’s 159 counties.
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