The 2026 Election: Challenges and Possible Solutions

As Georgia moves toward the 2026 election cycle, new state and federal developments are reshaping the way counties must prepare for the future of voting. Both legislative mandates and executive orders are raising difficult questions about election equipment, ballot design, and the very structure of our voting process. One possible outcome? Single-day voting (no early voting, but a possible holiday for election day), very limited Absentee voting, hand-marked paper ballots, counted by hand at the polling location. Really? Read on…

The QR Code Ban and State Law

Georgia Senate Bill 189 requires that the text portion of ballots, rather than QR codes, be used for vote tabulation and recounts. This provision takes effect on July 1, 2026, although the legislature has allocated no funding to replace or modify the current voting machines.

The Secretary of State has argued that no tabulation machines meet this requirement, rendering the law effectively invalid. Any machine, they claim, counts votes by looking at the ‘bubbles’ next to a candidate’s name, determining whether each bubble is filled in based on an x-y coordinate system that relies on registration or timing marks on the side of the ballot. The SOS claims that these are “machine codes” and are not legal under the new law. This is, obviously, not true. Many people analyzing voting results are using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to locate and then identify the voters’ choices. But, unless the law is changed, which has its own problems, counties must still plan for compliance. On July 18, 2025, the Gwinnett County Board of Elections sent a resolution to state leaders seeking clarification on how the county could comply, but as of publication, no response has been received.

Emergency Paper Ballots as a Solution

Once the QR code ban takes effect, Georgia’s current Dominion machines will produce non-compliant ballots, making their use illegal and therefore not practicable. This could trigger reliance on emergency paper ballots.

Georgia law allows superintendents to authorize hand-marked paper ballots if electronic ballot markers are “impossible or impracticable” to use (O.C.G.A. §§ 21-2-281, 21-2-334; State Election Rule 183-1-12-.11). In practice, this means counties may need to prepare for large-scale paper ballot use in 2026.

The Federal Executive Orders

The situation is further complicated by developments at the federal level. A March Executive Order (EO) rescinded prior certifications of voting equipment and tasked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) with reviewing the security of all electronic election systems. That assessment will highlight vulnerabilities across major voting machine vendors and issues with mail-in and absentee voting.

The next Executive Order will likely be issued in conjunction with the DHS report, and will probably require that some or all of the following changes be made for the 2026 elections:

• No voting machines – Hand-marked, paper ballots only
• No advance voting – Election Day only voting
• Very limited voting by mail – Exclusions for military and special procedures for shut-ins

Republicans, who dominate the Georgia House and Senate, could decide to codify parts or all of the EO, but based on previous major election law changes, it is unlikely to result in changes to the procedures used in the 2026 General Election. Congress could also put these requirements into law for federal elections, in which case Georgia would almost have to follow the federal rules for our State elections as well. And yes, Congress does have the power to direct how states conduct federal elections—witness the NVRA, HAVA, etc.

But what if neither the Georgia Legislature or Congress takes action? Then things get even more interesting (if that is possible). Elections were designated critical infrastructure in 2017, and subsequent decisions gave the federal government broad authority to act under national security powers. Additionally, the Trump administration just appointed Heather Honey, an election ‘denier’ and hated by the left, to the top “Election Integrity” post at DHS, and Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who pushed claims of voter fraud in 2020, has joined the administration as a “special government employee.” The President appears to be preparing, if necessary, to invoke emergency powers to enforce these changes, at least for federal elections. Georgia would likely need to align its state elections accordingly rather than run two different elections at the same time.

And before you say, “Oh, we can’t possibly change our voting system in time for the 2026 elections,” realize that the contract with Dominion was signed at the very end of July 2019, and Georgia was using voting machines statewide for their elections in March of 2020. Consider as well that the process of going to a whole new type of voting machine statewide is significantly more complex than simply moving to paper ballots.

Also consider that a DHS report highlighting major flaws in our current system would result in a dramatic loss of confidence in our elections. You may not agree with the DHS assessment, but you know Trump will. And even if you have TDS, you know that he is determined to Make Elections Trustworthy Again (META – we just made that up and demand a royalty whenever it is used).

Gwinnett County’s Response

Recognizing these uncertainties, the Gwinnett County Board of Elections has created a temporary “2026 Committee” to monitor developments and propose contingency plans. Options under consideration include:

• Adding more precincts to reduce voter load (no more than 2,000 voters per precinct).
• Preparing for alternative voting methods, including paper ballots or ballot-on-demand printing.
• Ensuring election continuity even if federal and state mandates drastically alter procedures.

Looking Ahead

It is clear that the next two years will bring significant changes to Georgia’s election process. Counties must begin preparing now for the possibility that the equipment and methods used today will be unavailable—or even unlawful—by the time voters head to the polls in 2026.

Gwinnett County’s proactive steps highlight both the challenges and the need for contingency planning as we move toward a rapidly changing election landscape.