Georgia Senate Approves Hand-Marked Ballot Requirement for November 2026 Elections

Revamped bill mandates paper ballots, manual recounts, and other election changes

Mar. 31, 2026 at 4:05am

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A fractured, abstract painting depicting a voting booth or ballot box in overlapping geometric shapes and waves of deep blue, olive green, and burnt orange tones, conveying the complex and contested nature of election policies.Georgia's move to require hand-marked paper ballots exposes the ongoing partisan battle over election integrity and transparency.Bartow Today

The Georgia Senate has passed a revised bill, House Bill 960, that requires hand-marked paper ballots for the November 2026 general election. The bill also mandates a manual recount of some elections and other election administration changes. The measure passed along party lines and now heads to the Georgia House of Representatives before going to the governor's desk.

Why it matters

For conservatives who have pushed for more transparent and verifiable elections, this bill represents progress as most states already use hand-marked paper ballots. However, Democrats argue the changes are unnecessary and could undermine confidence in elections.

The details

The revised bill scales back some of the more aggressive provisions in the original Senate Bill 568, which failed on crossover day. The new version reduces fines for election boards from $10,000 to $100 per ineligible voter and drops a provision to add a 12th Superior Court judge to the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit. The core reform of requiring hand-marked paper ballots remains. Election officials will also be required to have preprinted ballots at each voting location and publish voter turnout by 11:59 p.m. on Election Night.

  • The Georgia Senate passed House Bill 960 on March 31, 2026.
  • The House of Representatives must now approve the amended version before it heads to Gov. Brian Kemp's desk.

The players

Greg Dolezal

A Republican state senator from Cumming who is running for lieutenant governor. He showed a map during the debate outlining the states that already use hand-marked ballots and argued Georgia should join them.

Randal Mangham

A Democratic state senator from Stone Mountain who called the revised bill "Groundhog Day" and dismissed it as "a conspiracy theorist wishlist dressed up as election legislation."

RaShaun Kemp

A Democratic state senator from Atlanta who suggested the bill was primarily a campaign prop for Dolezal's lieutenant governor bid, arguing "it's not about improving elections, it's about undermining confidence in them."

Kim Jackson

The Senate Minority Whip from Stone Mountain who raised concerns about the logistics for large counties like DeKalb to implement the hand-marked ballot requirement.

Joseph Kirk

The president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials and the election supervisor for Bartow County, who expressed concerns about the timeline to implement the changes before the November 2026 general election.

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What they’re saying

“All that we're asking is for Georgians to become green, to vote the way that the vast majority of people in America vote.”

— Greg Dolezal, State Senator

“This is a concentrated effort from Washington, D.C. all the way to Georgia and that's the problem we have. We're attacking Democracy at its core.”

— Randal Mangham, State Senator

“At its core, this bill is not about about improving elections. It's about undermining confidence in them and I hope I am wrong in saying, but it truly feels like it's another attempt to give a colleague something to run on.”

— RaShaun Kemp, State Senator

“We have 400 different ballot styles. So what this bill requires DeKalb County to do, with no funding to help with that by the way, is to make sure that all 432 permutations of our ballots are on location at every single voting and every single early voting location.”

— Kim Jackson, Senate Minority Whip

“This is not as easy as flipping a light switch. It takes time and the timeline contemplated by House Bill 960 is between mid-June and about early September, when we are going to start ramping up for the November general election. And that simply isn't enough time to get everything we need to get done, everything tested that we need to test, everything written that we need to write to make this successful statewide.”

— Joseph Kirk, President, Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials

What’s next

The amended version of House Bill 960 must now be approved by the Georgia House of Representatives before going to Gov. Brian Kemp's desk for signature.

The takeaway

This bill highlights the ongoing partisan divide over election policies in Georgia, with Republicans pushing for more transparent, paper-based voting systems and Democrats arguing the changes are unnecessary and could undermine confidence in elections. While election administrators raise legitimate logistical concerns, the core policy of requiring hand-marked paper ballots aligns with the national norm and represents progress for conservatives who have long advocated for such reforms.