Georgia's State Election Board voted 3-2 on Monday, Sept. 28, to ask federal agencies to pressure the secretary of state into updating the state's voting machines.

The resolution targets QR-code ballot equipment that Sandy Springs residents will use when early voting opens Tuesday, Oct. 13, at three local sites: Sandy Springs Library at 395 Mt. Vernon Highway, North Fulton Service Center at 7741 Roswell Road and North Fulton Training Center at 5025 Roswell Road.

Board member Carolyn Roddy, the board's Republican appointee, introduced the resolution. She cited a Sept. 2 letter from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. The letter said QR code-based voting systems may violate the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

"At this point in time, we've got nothing to lose, and it is irresponsible to have all of us voting on machines that we know have known vulnerabilities," Roddy said at the meeting, as first reported by the Georgia Recorder.

Board member Janelle King also voted yes. Board Chair John Fervier and member Sara Tindall Ghazal, the board's lone Democratic appointee, voted against the resolution. Both raised concerns about inviting federal involvement in the state's elections.

Ghazal argued the software update could not happen before Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3. She said the change would require loading an entirely new software system, not a simple patch, and called the timeline "impossible."

The secretary of state's office pushed back. Robert Sinners, a spokesperson for the office, said the board had not supported earlier funding requests. During the 2025 legislative session, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asked lawmakers to set aside $15 million for personnel costs to update voting machines statewide. Lawmakers never approved the money.

Georgia's voting machines were developed by Dominion Voting Systems, now known as Liberty Vote. The state first used them statewide in the 2020 election under a 10-year contract. The machines have not received software upgrades since their deployment, leaving known vulnerabilities, according to the Georgia Recorder.

Georgia is the only state that uses the QR-code ballot system statewide, according to an Associated Press report published by the Fulton Neighbor, citing Mark Lindeman, policy and strategy director at Verified Voting. Princeton University researcher Max Springer said he used an AI tool to match thousands of voters to their specific ballots using publicly available data from a Georgia primary.

The vulnerability does not allow votes to be changed, according to the AP report. It could, however, let someone see how individual voters cast their ballots.

The resolution also called on the secretary of state's office to retain copies of server hard drives and other election data for federal agencies to review. What federal intervention would look like in practice remains unclear.

State officials are working on plans to replace the election equipment entirely ahead of the 2028 presidential election. The next system will move away from QR-code ballot tallying.

Sandy Springs voters can cast early ballots Oct. 13 through Oct. 30 on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m., according to Fulton County's elections office. The voter registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 5.