As an important deadline approaches for Georgia to fix problems with its election system, a special legislative session has come to a close. Yet the solution the legislature came to has left a potential flaw on the table for the upcoming midterms.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp called a special session last week to resolve a looming issue with the state's election system, which currently uses QR codes to tabulate election results.

The QR code system was first implemented statewide in the 2020 election.

According to the Georgia Recorder, a state law passed in 2024 banned the use of QR codes. The ban was set to take effect on July 1, resulting in an impending crisis for the 2026 midterms absent a solution this month.

The QR code system was first implemented statewide in the 2020 election, according to WSPA.

Georgia Governor Brian KempDerek White/Getty Images for the Coca Cola Company

With just a week before the deadline, the special legislative session concluded with the successful passage of Senate Bill 3EX, which, among other things, postpones the looming deadline to find a replacement system until after the 2026 midterms.

The new bill, if Gov. Kemp signs it, will establish a new Elections Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee charged with forming and implementing a system to replace the current system. However, the QR code system will remain in place.

Blaze News reached out to Kemp's office for comment.

This bill, which Republican state Rep. Victor Anderson told the Associated Press was "the culmination of a lot of work," is nonetheless "not the ultimate solution."

“This bill solves an immediate conflict we have and lays out a path to achieve the most election integrity, the most accuracy, the most transparency that we can have going forward when we implement the next uniform voting system in Georgia," he said.

Republicans and Democrats fought over the extent to which hand-counting ballots could be used in the future. Democrats often oppose hand-counts, citing the extended waiting periods and extra costs.

“The question before us is not whether we support election integrity. Of course we do,” Democratic state Rep. Debra Bazemore told the AP. “The question is whether the bill actually improves election integrity or whether it creates a new opportunity to cast doubt on legitimate election results. I believe it does the latter.”

CBS News reported that the Georgia Senate passed the state House-amended bill after a failed attempt at passing additional amendments in the upper chamber.

The House passed the bill 94-79. The Senate eventually passed the bill 36-16.

The committee would be required to present its findings by January 31, 2027. The new deadline for ending the current system would be January 1, 2028.

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Democrat power-grab attempt goes south. AGAIN.

Democrats committed earlier this year to ideologically flipping the Georgia Supreme Court, where eight of the current nine justices are appointees of Republican governors, but they hit a major snag: Georgia voters.

Democrats' plan was to oust a pair of incumbents in the May 19 election, replace them with a pair of pro-abortion radicals, then, in 2028, similarly knock out the trio of GOP-appointed justices who will be facing re-election.

'The people of Georgia have made clear that they want to keep politics out of Georgia's courtrooms.'

Charlie Bailey, the chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said in April that his party was investing a historic sum in the campaigns of former Democrat state Sen. Jen Jordan and personal injury attorney Miracle Rankin, noting that "it's the most money that the Georgia Democratic Party has spent in judicial races in 20 years."

In addition to outside money, the liberal challengers enjoyed the support of outsiders, including pro-abortion groups and former President Barack Obama.

Obama, who endorsed both Jordan and Rankin, issued a reminder on Tuesday afternoon that "the decisions made by state supreme courts touch every part of our lives" and implored voters to "get this one right."

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Twice-failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris also weighed in from afar, telling Georgia voters to back Rankin and Jordan, whom she characterized as "extraordinary leaders."

Just as Democrats wasted millions of dollars on the unlawful, Obama-backed redistricting power-grab in Virginia — which the Old Dominion's Supreme Court torpedoed on May 8 — their court-flipping scheme in Georgia similarly proved to be a humiliating failure.

Georgia Supreme Court Justices Sarah Warren and Charlie Bethel, the Republican-appointed incumbents whom Gov. Brian Kemp threw his support behind, handily crushed their Democrat-backed challengers.

With over 95% of the expected votes in, Warren secured over 350,000 votes more than Jordan, beating the former Democrat lawmaker 59.3% to 40.7%.

Warren said in a statement following her decisive victory, "Today, the people of Georgia have made clear that they want to keep politics out of Georgia's courtrooms. The Supreme Court of Georgia is a nonpartisan court by constitutional design, and I am thankful that it will stay that way."

Bethel, a former Republican state senator, had a closer race but still came out on top, taking 51.1% of the total vote.

Whereas his challenger, Rankin, demonstrated on the campaign trail that she was sensitive and receptive to the ideological fads of the day, Bethel made clear on the campaign trail that he remains "committed to following Georgia law without respect to my personal preferences or the popular sentiment of the day."

According to AdImpact, over $4 million was blown on ads across the two races.

Kemp congratulated the victors and stressed that "the Democrats are not going to take their foot off the gas heading into November, and neither will we. Keep Choppin'!"

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'Friend' of President Trump advances to Georgia Republican Senate primary runoff

The president likes him "a lot," but Georgia voters still have to prove they agree.

Sitting U.S. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) took home the most votes in the Georgia GOP primary for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, but it was not enough to secure an outright nomination.

'28 more days of putting the hammer down!'

Collins was first in the primary, but since he did not garner 50% of the vote, he will have to go head-to-head against runner-up Derek Dooley in a runoff election on June 16. Collins finished with nearly 41% of the vote, while Dooley had about 30%, according to CBS News.

"Thank you, Georgia. Love y'all. 28 more days of putting the hammer down!" Collins wrote on X after securing the most votes in the primary.

Collins was considered the favorite as a MAGA-style Republican and led polls by an average of 11.5 points between April and May.

The 58-year-old also received an unofficial endorsement from President Donald Trump in February, but it is unclear how much that endorsement helped him.

A video posted February 19 showed Trump telling supporters, "He's a friend of mine. He's a good guy."

"I like him a lot," Trump added.

Megan Varner/Getty Images

The video garnered nearly 1 million views on X, but subsequent polls showed Collins' lead shrank from about +25 in mid-February to just +14 by the end of the month.

Still, Collins was considered to be Trump-aligned, having similar views on immigration and spearheading the Laken Riley Act. As well, Collins voted against aid to Ukraine in October 2023, but voted in favor of Israeli aid the same month.

Dooley, a former football coach for the Tennessee Volunteers, was consistently second or third in polling and was endorsed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R).

Dooley put out a statement late on Tuesday thanking his voters for their support.

"This campaign has been about putting the people of Georgia first and sending a new type of leader up to D.C. who's in it for the right reasons, and that's to serve," Dooley wrote on X.

"Let's get to work and win this runoff!" he added alongside a photo that featured Gov. Kemp.

Megan Varner/Bloomberg/Getty Images

Third place went to Rep. Earl "Buddy" Carter (R-Ga.), a former pharmacist and mayor who received approximately 25% of the vote.

Other candidates included businessman and real estate developer John Coyne, as well as Jonathan McColumn, a retired U.S. Army Reserve brigadier general and pastor. Both got less than 5% of the vote.

The winner of Collins vs. Dooley will face off against Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff in November. Ossoff went unopposed in the Democrat primary and has been in office since 2021.

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