As Georgia continues to be the focus of endless election related stories, another potential bombshell has arisen. Former DeKalb County CEO Vernon Jones, a Republican candidate for Secretary of State, has filed a Writ of Mandamus based on an Executive Order issued by President Donald Trump last year prohibiting the use of ballot QR codes in federal elections.
In the pleadings Jones, who actively campaigned for Trump in 2024, notes that the Executive Order has the full force and effect of a law. He argues it risks a determination that the results of the primary elections to be held on My 19th for U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate seats are invalid.
Jones’s Writ seeks to have DeKalb County ballots counted by hand before the certification date for those primaries. He has filed in a likely hostile DeKalb court and election issues in Georgia have rarely been litigated, with courts asserting a lack of standing to bring an action.
By the way, in Georgia only one cause of action related to the 2020 presidential election result ever reached the level of an actual hearing of the facts and evidence related to the actual filed complaint. That one exception ultimately resulted as the basis for a current, and reportedly intense and quickly moving, investigation by the FBI.
Jones is not a candidate for a federal office, thus leaving open the same ruling of a local lack of standing. But as a potential future Georgia Secretary of State, his efforts are relevant to the job which includes overseeing all elections in the state.
In any event, the issue of the presidential Executive Order could have much broader consequences after the Georgia vote on Tuesday. Losing candidates running in federal races, including the hotly contested U.S. Senate race, could potentially file in other counties with a more receptive bench to have the election results set aside.
And if the Executive Order’s validity becomes an issue, it may well become a matter for the federal courts. A federal court previously ruled certain portions of the Executive Order invalid but did not strike down the QR code portion of it.
Two years ago Georgia’s legislature passed legislation to ban the use of QR codes in all elections effective this coming July 1. However, both the primary races and any runoffs will occur prior to that date.
Now Gov. Brian Kemp has called a special session of the General Assembly after the runoffs, in part to address the law banning QR codes which has gone without funding or guidance as to its implementation.
No matter what the General Assembly does, though, it appears once again that Georgia may be ground zero for electoral chaos. Stay tuned.
