PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — Election officials are warning that new legislation could change how people vote.
They worry the bill introduced just last week could create problems during an election year. SB 568 is scheduled to hit the Senate floor Friday.
Channel 2’s Michael Doudna spoke with local election officials who say that if passed, it would set them up to fail.
Folks were voting early in Paulding County on Thursday, but new legislation would do away with that.
It also would require new machines and new training that officials warn could create problems on Election Day.
“The lines that we would have would be unimaginable at this point,” said Paulding County Election Director Diedre Holden.
If passed, the legislation would require hand-marked paper ballots, along with changing how recounts and early voting works.
Supporters say it would put us in line with other states.
“It moves Georgians to vote the same way that Floridians vote,” said state Sen. Greg Dolezal.
This afternoon, Holden and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger expressed concern about the impact on counties and if they would have enough time to train workers and buy the needed equipment.
“They’re setting us up for failure,” Holden said.
Paulding County says it would require a special printer for each of its 144 electronic poll books, costing the county around $500,000.
“It’s a big number, and you multiply that by 159 counties. What’s the average county size? And you start saying, ‘Oh, that’d be tens of millions of dollars,’” Raffensperger said.
Raffensperger and Holden are pushing for lawmakers to at least delay implementation to give counties and the state time to prepare.
“Extend out the date, go for another year, another two years,” Raffensperger said.
“We just really get tired of these unfunded mandates, because our budgets are strained as it is, but you can’t stop having elections,” Holden said.
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