The special session that almost nobody wanted is about to begin. The greatest danger is not that lawmakers will do too little. It’s that they will do too much.
Specifically, they may be pressured into making a rushed, unnecessary $150 million decision about Georgia’s next voting system—a decision that will affect elections for the next decade. That would be a major political, fiscal, technology, and election policy mistake.
It is the worst possible time to make such a decision.
For months, political leaders have treated July 1 as if it were some sort of election apocalypse. It isn’t. Georgia already has a mandated lawful backup voting system in place for exactly such a contingency. The immediate subject is conducting the November 2026 election legally and securely. Choosing Georgia’s voting technology for 2028 and beyond is a completely different question.
The legislature should address the first and postpone the second.
Lawmakers are being asked to make this future voting system decision with less preparation than preceded either of Georgia’s last two statewide touchscreen voting-system failures.
The 2002 touchscreen system was heavily promoted in a public process and studied. The vulnerable system ultimately collapsed when it was declared unconstitutional, because Secretary of State Cathy Cox rejected the sound advice of cybersecurity experts from the beginning, to avoid purchasing touchscreen voting systems.
The 2019 Dominion touchscreen system was studied, debated, and sold as the answer to Georgia’s election problems, despite the clear repeated objections of the cybersecurity experts, and concerns expressed by the federal court. It remains mired in litigation, cybersecurity concerns, operational headaches, after exploding county election costs.
Now Senators and Representatives are likely to be asked to approve a third unauditable touchscreen system during a rushed summer special session with even less scrutiny than either of its predecessors received.
Chairman Tim Fleming and Vice-Chair Victor Anderson’s Blue Ribbon Committee spent months traveling the state discussing election issues. Yet most of the concepts now reportedly being proposed were never discussed by that committee. No cybersecurity expert input was sought. Local election directors’ public testimony has not been heard. Election lawyers have not been consulted. No review of county operating cost implications has been undertaken.
That’s not a reasonable way to make election technology policy. That’s a panic purchase commitment.
The technology questions alone should stop lawmakers in their tracks.
Only a very limited number of voting systems currently on the market meet the federal 2021 voting-system standards. Yet proposals reportedly under discussion could allow Georgia to spend $150 million or more on equipment certified to 2005 standards! No responsible business would buy technology built to twenty-year-old standards. The State of Georgia shouldn’t either.
The state already owns workable equipment. The scanners and election-management servers of the Dominion system remain durable and serviceable for years if used in their standard configuration with hand-marked paper ballots.
The proposed legislation is likely to put Secretary Raffensperger in position to tee up the new system for his successor’s final approval and procurement next year. I need not explain why that is an irresponsible idea.
The only beneficiaries of a hurried procurement are vendors and those who remain determined to keep Georgia dependent on unauditable touchscreen voting results.
Lawmakers should remember who pays the political price when these systems fail to produce accountable votes, fail to adopt the gold standard of hand marked ballots used across the nation, and fail to gain public trust. Not the vendors. Not the procurement teams.
Georgia already has a lawful mandatory backup paper-ballot system ready to use now. Use the mandatory system! It should be a “no brainer.” Install the overdue security patch. Conduct a secure election. Then spend 2027 undertaking a serious study of Georgia’s long-term voting-system needs.
The lesson from Georgia’s last two failed statewide voting-system purchases should be obvious.
If the two previous touchscreen systems became expensive controversies, producing public distrust, a system selected in a rushed special session is even more likely to become the next failed voting system boondoggle.
Don’t make a $150 million panic purchase.
The author is executive director of the Coalition for Good Governance, a non-partisan non-profit organization focused on election integrity.
