If you’ve been following Georgia’s election policy debates over the past month, you might assume that something meaningful is being done to secure the 2026 elections. After all, we’ve seen press releases and social media posts. We’ve seen committee hearings. We’ve seen bold rhetoric about security failures. We’ve seen Republican-sponsored bills with impressive titles.
And yet, beneath the surface, nothing serious is happening.
Instead, what we are witnessing is the quiet but remarkably effective work of what might be called the Bipartisan Do-Nothing Caucus — a powerful coalition united by one shared objective: Make sure that nothing actually changes to move away from the highly exploitable voting system in use today.
Two Bills. Zero Progress.
First came SB 214. It was pushed by Sen. Max Burns’ and Reps. Tim Fleming and Victor Anderson’s spectacularly flawed proposal that, among other curiosities, contained a provision that would have voided all Election Day ballots, and tediously hand counted all the QR code ballots. That bill mercifully collapsed less than 24 hours after it saw the light of day.
Then came SB 568, sponsored by Sen. Greg Dolezal. This latest offering was presented as serious reform in Monday’s Senate Ethics Committee. It astonishingly passed, without the Committee digging into the incoherent content of the bill.
SB 568 is not a clean transition to hand-marked paper ballots. It is not a coherent modernization plan. It is not a workable framework for reform. The bill claims it requires hand-marked ballots although it’s still requiring touchscreens. It hints at a new voting system without specifying one. It references tabulation methods that Georgia’s equipment cannot perform. It embeds procedures that would likely result in weeks-long hand counts of every vote in the state.
In short, it is legislative gibberish and time waster. If you want the detailed breakdown, you can read our analysis here.
Security Rhetoric Without Security Reform
To Dolezal’s credit, he opened his Committee presentation by criticizing Secretary Brad Raffensperger for failing to deploy a long-overdue security software patch. A federal court has urged installation. Cybersecurity experts have warned about the risk. The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency identified the patch as urgent. Princeton’s Professor Andrew Appel recently described Georgia’s system as “tragicomically insecure.”
And yet, Dolezal’s SB 568 does not require the patch. It does not fund the patch. It does not set a deadline for the patch. If election security is the concern, why is one urgent security fix nowhere in the bill?
The Hand Count Trap
The bill claims to rely on optical scanners — which, paired with hand-marked paper ballots and proper audits, is the national gold standard. But buried in Section 12 is a procedure requiring public oral reading of thousands of poll tape subtotals and reconciliation processes so convoluted that even minor discrepancies would trigger full hand recounts of every ballot.
Think about that. Every vote on every ballot.
In large counties, that means weeks of manual counting layered on top of machine tabulation. If, that is, we can figure out which machines the bill calls for.
This is not efficiency. It is engineered paralysis, while pacifying the vote hand counting zealots and the folks who defend the status quo.
The $100 Million Mystery
During debate, references were made to potentially needing a new voting system.
Georgia does not own equipment capable of text-based ballot tabulation as described in the bill. If this language were taken seriously, it would require:
- Complete system replacement
- A single-vendor certified configuration
- Multi-year purchase and deployment
- Well north of $100 million in costs
There are no specifications.
There is no funding. There is no implementation timeline. For legislation that would so radically reshape elections, that level of vagueness should concern every taxpayer.
Where Are the Republicans?
Perhaps most puzzling is this: Republicans have been outspoken about election integrity for years since they realized, in 2020, the mistake they made in insisting on touchscreen QR code voting.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for hand-marked paper ballots. Conservative voters have demanded transparency and verifiable outcomes. Grassroots activists have filled hearing rooms. And yet, when presented with an opportunity to enact a straightforward, clean, single-topic hand-marked paper ballot bill, what we get instead is Kabuki-style legislation — elaborate performance, planned failure.
Meanwhile, Democrats largely sit back, content to let Republicans carry the political risk of chaos– while the Democrats carry the risk of being marginalized by electronic vote subversion.
The result? No reform.
The Simple Path Forward
Here is what is missing from both parties:
A clean bill that transitions Georgia to hand-marked paper ballots, counted by optical scanners, with legitimate audits verifying outcomes.
No convoluted hybrid schemes.
No theatrical hand-count traps.
No vague system overhauls.
No fiscal fog.
Georgia already owns a certified backup paper ballot system. The statutory mandate exists to use the backup system. The scanners can tabulate hand-marked ballots. Ballot-on-demand printers solve ballot style management issues used routinely across the country.
And yes — the overdue security patch should be installed immediately.
Instead, the legislature waits for the State Election Board. And the State Election Board waits for the legislature. Some wait for the courts.
The Do-Nothing Caucus succeeds again, waiting for everyone else.
The 2026 Elections Are Just About Here
This year’s elections will not wait for political choreography. If Georgia experiences another election controversy under a system widely described as vulnerable — and easily fixable — voters will not care which party stalled. They will simply ask why nothing was done when the warning signs were flashing.
Conservatives who believe in election integrity should demand seriousness. Not symbolic gestures. Not legislative theater. The time for action is now.
Marilyn Marks is the executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance.
