Georgia Secretary of State Race Reaches Final Day of Early Voting on October 30 as Candidates Split over 2028 Voting Equipment
Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia — Georgia's secretary of state race reached the final day of early voting on October 30. The winner will preside over the state's biggest change to its voting equipment since 2019 and certify the voting system Georgia uses in 2028.
The seat is open because Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger left it to run for higher office. The Republican candidate, state Rep. Tim Fleming of Covington, is a former deputy secretary of state and chief of staff to Governor Brian Kemp. The Democrat, Penny Brown Reynolds, is a former Fulton County judge who worked in the Biden administration's Agriculture Department civil rights office.
Their sharpest difference is over voting equipment. Georgia's touchscreen ballot-marking devices were bought for $107 million in 2019. A 2024 state law barred counting votes by QR code, and when lawmakers failed to fund a replacement, June's special session pushed the deadline to 2028 and created a special committee to help choose the next system. Fleming sits on the committee and favors a focus on hand-marked paper ballots printed on demand at check-in. Reynolds says she supports paper ballots or machines, provided there is a verifiable paper record and chain of custody. The Legislature is expected to make the final choice in its 2027 session.
Source: GSM America
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：Georgia State Capitol, Atlanta, West view 20160716 1。来源：Wikimedia Commons（DXR，CC BY-SA 4.0）
