Georgia election panel asks Trump administration to help push for election system updates

Members of Georgia’s State Election Board have advanced a resolution calling on the secretary of state’s office to update the state’s voting machines and urging the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Homeland Security to step in to ensure the update takes place. 

The resolution was introduced by the board’s GOP appointee, Carolyn Roddy and cited a Sept. 2 letter from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche which said QR code-based voting systems may potentially violate the federal Help America Vote Act. It passed in a 3-2 vote Monday, roughly two weeks before Georgia residents begin heading to the polls for early voting. 

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It’s not quite clear what federal intervention would look like, but board member Janelle King argued that bringing in federal officials could help incentivize the secretary of state’s office to update Georgia’s election software.

“What we’re asking the DOJ to do is to come in and support us in nudging our secretary of state’s office, who is overseeing the federal election as well, to do their job,” she said.

The resolution also called for the secretary of state’s office to hold on to copies of server hard drives and other election data for federal agencies to review.

The move also comes in the wake of the Georgia Republican Party and Republican National Committee penning a joint letter to the board raising concerns about Georgia’s voting equipment software. The letter cited a Princeton University researcher’s claims that he was able to use artificial intelligence to tie thousands of voters to specific ballots with relative certainty by putting publicly available data through an AI tool. It also called on the board to publish a report on the status of Georgia’s election system ahead of the start of early voting and “seek any federal technical assistance required to complete a certified upgrade” of the state’s voting equipment.

Early voting for the midterm elections begins on Oct. 13.

Georgia’s voting machines were developed by Dominion Voting Systems (now known as Liberty Vote) and were used statewide in Georgia for the first time during the 2020 election. They will still be in use for the midterm elections, but experts say a lack of recent software upgrades has left vulnerabilities in the system. 

During Georgia’s 2025 legislative session, Secretary of State Raffensperger urged state leaders to set aside $15 million for the personnel costs necessary to update voting machines across the state, but lawmakers never approved the funds. 

State officials are currently working on plans to replace the state’s election equipment ahead of the 2028 presidential election. Georgia currently uses ballot QR codes to tally votes but will move away from that practice under the next system. 

During Monday’s meeting, Roddy expressed frustration with the lack of action that had been taken on software updates.

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“I don’t think that there is an interest in the state doing anything about it, but maybe our federal partners will help us, and that is the whole purpose of this,” Roddy said as she introduced the resolution. “At this point in time, we’ve got nothing to lose, and it is irresponsible to have all of us voting on machines that we know have known vulnerabilities.”

But both board chair John Fervier and board member Sara Tindall Ghazal opposed the resolution, raising concerns about calling on the federal government to get involved with the state’s elections process.

Ghazal, the board’s lone Democratic appointee, also disputed the characterization of the software update as a simple “patch,” arguing that it could take months to finalize.

“It is not a patch, it is an entirely new software system that would have to be loaded on,” she said. “What you are calling for is impossible to do before the midterm elections. It’s not that it’s impractical. It’s not that it’s difficult or challenging. It cannot be done.”

Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office, criticized Roddy’s resolution. 

“Where were these board members supporting our funding requests over past legislative sessions?” Sinners said. “This is a day late and at least $30 million dollars short.”