Current:Home > InvestGeorgia House votes to require watermarks on election ballots -FutureWise Finance
Georgia House votes to require watermarks on election ballots
View
Date:2025-04-16 19:50:04
ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia voters could see a watermark on their ballot beginning in November, a move Republican supporters said would assure citizens that their ballots are authentic.
The House on Wednesday voted 167-1 for House Bill 976, sending it to the Senate for more debate.
“It will bring more confidence from our people who vote, and it’s something we need to restore.” said Rep. Steve Tarvin, a Chickamauga Republican.
Georgia ballots are already printed on special security paper, under a law passed in 2021 after Georgia’s disputed 2020 presidential election. But a laser wand is required to detect the paper. And some Trump supporters continue to pursue claims that ballots in 2020 were forged, especially in Fulton County, despite investigators repeatedly failing to find any.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger supports the measure, with his chief operating officer, Gabe Sterling, telling a House committee earlier this month that a machine to stamp watermarks on the ballot would cost the state about $100,000, and not increase the current cost to counties of 13 cents per ballot.
“This is a low-cost, high-value measure,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman John LaHood, a Valdosta Republican.
Sterling said the secretary of state’s office believes the measure is more important for absentee ballots sent through the mail, saying ballots produced in polling places never leave the supervision of poll workers.
The bill would take effect July 1. Counties could use up un-watermarked ballot paper now on hand in March and May elections, Sterling said.
Lawmakers are also considering other election measures. One would require that bar codes be removed from ballots produced by Georgia’s electronic voting system. Opponents say voters can’t be sure the computer codes match the choices printed on their ballots. Raffensperger has said he supports a move to scan “human readable text,” the names printed on ballots, to count votes. But he has said it’s impossible to make such a change before the November presidential election.
Another measure would require two after-election audits of ballots to make sure results matched what machines counted. A third measure would make permanent a program requiring scans of ballots be released for public inspection.
veryGood! (5)
Related
- 'Squid Game' without subtitles? Duolingo, Netflix encourage fans to learn Korean
- Helping the Snow Gods: Cloud Seeding Grows as Weapon Against Global Warming
- Huntington's spreads like 'fire in the brain.' Scientists say they've found the spark
- CBS News' David Pogue defends OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush after Titan tragedy: Nobody thought anything at the time
- Working Well: When holidays present rude customers, taking breaks and the high road preserve peace
- Top Democrats, Republicans offer dueling messages on abortion a year after Roe overturned
- Madonna postpones tour while recovering from 'serious bacterial infection'
- Céline Dion Cancels World Tour Amid Health Battle
- Military service academies see drop in reported sexual assaults after alarming surge
- Elon Musk Eyes a Clean-Energy Empire
Ranking
- Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
- American Climate: In Iowa, After the Missouri River Flooded, a Paradise Lost
- Keeping Up With the Love Lives of The Kardashian-Jenner Family
- Public Comments on Pipeline Plans May Be Slipping Through Cracks at FERC, Audit Says
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- Obama’s Oil Tax: A Conversation Starter About Climate and Transportation, but a Non-Starter in Congress
- Fish make music! It could be the key to healing degraded coral reefs
- Is gun violence an epidemic in the U.S.? Experts and history say it is
Recommendation
Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
Muscular dystrophy patients get first gene therapy
More Than $3.4 Trillion in Assets Vow to Divest From Fossil Fuels
Top Democrats, Republicans offer dueling messages on abortion a year after Roe overturned
North Carolina justices rule for restaurants in COVID
American Climate Video: On a Normal-Seeming Morning, the Fire Suddenly at Their Doorstep
CBS News poll: The politics of abortion access a year after Dobbs decision overturned Roe vs. Wade
Washington State Voters Reject Nation’s First Carbon Tax