Overview
- The State Election Board’s executive director, James Mills, sent letters to the Justice Department on Oct. 1–2 asking federal officials to prohibit QR-code-based vote counting in Georgia and to order a statewide software update before the midterms.
- Mills also urged the DOJ to set a binding six-month deadline to replace the QR-code system and to investigate the secretary of state’s office over allegations of withheld or altered election records.
- The QR-code system uses ballot-marking devices that print a human-readable paper record plus a machine-readable QR code, and Mills argues voters cannot verify the code that tabulators read.
- Legal experts and advocacy groups say the Constitution gives states primary control of elections and the DOJ likely lacks unilateral authority to declare machines unlawful or seize them without a clear statute or court order.
- Election officials and security specialists warned that forcing major software or hardware changes days before early in-person voting could confuse poll workers, introduce errors, and risk disruption at the polls.