Senate passes revamped House bill requiring hand-marked ballots

(The Center Square) – Three weeks after the Georgia Senate failed to pass a bill requiring hand-marked ballots for the November elections, a revamped House bill with the same requirement was approved.

In its original form, House Bill 960 would have added a 12th Superior Court judge to the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit.

The amended bill presented by Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, on Friday contained some of the same language as Senate Bill 568, which failed on crossover day. House Bill 960 still requires hand-marked ballots for the November 2026 general election and requires a manual recount of some elections.

The new version reduces the $10,000 fine that election boards were facing for each ineligible voter to $100.

Election officials will also be required to have preprinted ballots at each voting location and publish a voter turnout list by 11:59 p.m. on Election Night.

Senate Minority Whip Kim Jackson of Stone Mountain said preprinted ballots would be a challenge in DeKalb C...