6 Years Later, Georgia Elections Still Lack Transparency
The 2020 election was rife with controversy and election integrity issues. Front and center for all of that was Georgia, Fulton County, the beef with President Trump and Brian Kemp, and Brad Raffensperger. In a state that currently holds a Senate and House majority for conservatives, many voters are left scratching their heads as to why we are now just looking to solve this?
Georgia Legislators have banned the use of QR codes on ballots starting July 1, 2026, with a special session called in June to come up with a new method of voting. The only problem is, we just had an election and now a runoff in June. So, what good did that do us for this (April-May 2026 Primary) election? It didn’t. Voters are still feeling a high degree of uncertainty and distrust in the system and questions as to how the November 2026 election will be run.
In a majority conservative state in terms of legislators, this should have been easily solved after the discrepancies were brought to light following the 2020 election. The videos coming from Fulton County, the lack of cyber security, and the high level of distrust should have been priority number 1 for our state representatives.
One of the main issues that I have with the system is that there is no count of the ballots after they have been cast. We are just supposed to trust that they were counted correctly, and the poll workers and poll watchers have no oversight on what the ballots actually say. They lock them in a bag, and store them in a secure area. Never to be looked at again unless there is a lawsuit filed for a recount. Not exactly confidence inspiring is it? Why wouldn’t they be allowed to check against the numbers tallied? Why wouldn’t they at a minimum perform an audit to ensure that the ballots cast are reading correctly? And better yet, why is there no place where the voters can check to see how their ballot was cast? Why can’t I verify that my vote for candidate A, was read properly and counted properly? They owe us some transparency on this. I served in both Iraq and Afghanistan and their elections had more integrity. Why? Because the US Military helped them set up their system. There weren’t any corrupt politicians involved.
We are being promised a new system, with better integrity and getting rid of the QR codes, but I am not confident that the new system will be better. Why would I be? They haven’t done a damn thing to fix this, and we are still waiting. So, if you live in Georgia, ask your reps what their plan is? Because unless we hold their feet to the fire, then they may just kick the can down the road another few years.
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