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Georgia bill gives power to State Election Board and enacts its rules

House Bill 397 aims to give the State Election Board more power and establish new voting rules in Georgia, including hand-counting ballots after polls close.
The bill prohibits voters from hand-delivering absentee ballots the weekend before Election Day and increases surveillance requirements on drop boxes.
Critics express concerns over potential delays and errors with hand-counting ballots, as warned by county election directors and public hearing participants.
The measure seeks to enhance the board's autonomy, detaching it from the Secretary of State's office, while imposing new restrictions on election rule changes just before elections.

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American Military News

Lean Right

Georgia’s next voting system? Senators seek paper ballots filled out by hand

Georgia senators took the first step toward abandoning the state’s touchscreen voting system, replacing it with paper ballots filled out by hand. A bill proposed Tuesday would require almost all Georgia voters to bubble in their choices at polling places instead of using touchscreen computers that print out paper ballots. The Senate Ethics Committee could vote on the legislation Wednesday, but lawmakers don’t plan to immediately ditch touchscree…

4 days ago

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Georgia Recorder

Lean Left

Big overhaul planned for Georgia elections: Bills aired in state Legislature’s waning days • Georgia Recorder

(Bottom right to left) Charlene McGowan, general counsel for the Georgia Secretary of State, and State Election Director Blake Evans urged Senate Ethics Committee members Wednesday to not ditch the current voter registration sharing database. Stanley Dunlap/Georgia Recorder Sweeping changes to election rules intended to increase paper ballot options, expand the powers of the State Election Board and remove the state from a voter registration sha…

4 days ago

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Leader-Telegram

Center

Georgia bill gives power to State Election Board and enacts its rules

ATLANTA — Georgia Republican state legislators unveiled an elections overhaul bill Wednesday that would empower the State Election Board after its conservative majority tried and failed to change several rules weeks before Election Day last year.

5 days ago

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AJC

Lean Left

Georgia election bill would enact rejected State Election Board rules

With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the Georgia Senate Ethics Committee revealed a bill seeking significant election changes.

5 days ago·Atlanta, United States

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Georgia Public Broadcasting

+6 Reposted by 6 other sources

Lean Left

Big overhaul planned for Georgia elections: Bills aired in state Legislature’s waning days

Sweeping changes to election rules intended to increase paper ballot options, expand the powers of the State Election Board and remove the state from a voter registration sharing database are up for debate as the 2025 legislative session nears a close.

5 days ago·Georgia, United States

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Civil.ge

GD to Ban Opposition Groups Under “Successor Parties” Law, Declare Them Unconstitutional

Georgian Dream parliamentary majority leader Mamuka Mdinaradze announced the introduction of a bill, he referred to as “successor parties law”, which targets opposition groups deemed “hostile” to the state by the ruling party. The law aims to ban political forces “whose activities, the personal composition of decision-makers, or statutory goals” are identical to those of “the collective UNM”, Mdinaradze said, describing them as “anti-Georgian, a…

4 days ago

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