SB 568: Elections and Primaries; the list of eligible voters is posted and made public prior to each primary or election; require

SB 568, as substituted by the Senate Committee on Ethics, amends Georgia's election code (O.C.G.A. Title 21, Chapter 2) in numerous ways. It requires county boards of registrars to finalize the list of eligible voters at least five days before advance voting starts and makes that list a public record open to inspection. It creates civil fines of up to $10,000 per registration for boards of registrars that fail to remove a voter after a successful challenge. The bill also changes voting equipment rules for elections after July 1, 2026, moving toward hand marked paper ballots read by optical scanners with counterfeit detection, while keeping electronic ballot markers available for voters with disabilities. It adds rules for multiple advance voting locations, requires posting a list of who voted after polls close, directs the Secretary of State to keep an archive of those lists, changes ballot recount margins from 0.5 percent to 1 percent, requires recounts to be done by hand, and revises which races get risk-limiting audits and who oversees them.

• Requires the official voter list to be finalized at least five days before advance voting and makes it a public record open for inspection and copying.
• Creates civil fines up to $10,000 per improperly retained registration for boards of registrars that fail to remove a successfully challenged voter.
• Shifts Georgia's voting equipment, after July 1, 2026, toward an optical scanning system using hand marked paper ballots with counterfeit-detecting infrared scanners, while keeping electronic ballot markers for voters with disabilities.
• Requires counties with multiple advance voting locations to assign specific precincts to each location and limit voters to their assigned site.
• Requires posting a list of everyone who voted after polls close and directs the Secretary of State to keep a permanent archive of those lists.
• Changes the automatic recount margin from one-half of one percent to one percent of votes cast and requires recounts to be done by manual hand count.

County boards of registrars and election superintendents, the Secretary of State's office, the State Election Board, candidates seeking recounts, voters (including those with disabilities who rely on electronic ballot markers), and members of the public who request voter lists or scanned ballot images.

The bill changes how Georgians' ballots are marked and counted, gives the public new access to voter lists and vote-cast records, and imposes financial penalties on local election officials who don't remove challenged voters, which could affect election administration, transparency, and costs at the county level.

• Section 1 requires the voter list be completed five days before advance voting begins and makes it a public record under Georgia's open records law (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 et seq.).
• Sections 2 and 3 add civil fines of up to $10,000 per registration for boards of registrars that fail to remove voters after successful challenges.
• Section 4 requires that after July 1, 2026, elections use an optical scanning system with hand marked paper ballots and infrared counterfeit detection, keeping electronic ballot markers for voters with disabilities.
• Section 9 requires counties or municipalities with multiple advance voting locations to assign each precinct to a specific location and limit voters to that site.
• Section 10 requires posting a list of everyone who voted after polls close and has the Secretary of State maintain an archival database of those lists.
• Section 12 adds requirements to post authentication files, cast vote records, and system logs alongside scanned ballot images, and removes the fee that used to be charged for high-resolution ballot scan requests.
• Section 13 lowers the recount threshold from a 0.5 percent vote margin to 1 percent and requires recounts to be conducted by manual hand count of all ballots.
• Section 14 changes which races get mandatory risk-limiting audits (adding U.S. Representative, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, and Attorney General) and removes the Secretary of State's role in administering those audits unless the State Election Board requests it.

1. 2026-03-06Senate Lost (Senate)
2. 2026-03-06Senate Third Read (Senate)
3. 2026-03-06Senate Taken from Table (Senate)
4. 2026-03-06Senate Tabled (Senate)
5. 2026-03-06Senate Engrossed (Senate)
6. 2026-03-04Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
7. 2026-03-03Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
8. 2026-02-25Senate Read and Referred (Senate)

• Greg Dolezal (R, SD-027)Primary sponsor
• Max Burns (R, SD-023)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)
• Matt Brass (R, SD-006)
• Ben Watson (R, SD-001)
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• Brian Strickland (R, SD-042)
• Blake Tillery (R, SD-019)

1. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   32 yea, 22 nay (1 not voting, 0 absent)

   Motion To Engross: Sb 423, Sb 515, Sb 566, Sb 568, Sb 573, Sr 838: Senate Vote #640

2. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   27 yea, 22 nay (0 not voting, 6 absent)

   Motion To Remove From The Table: Senate Vote #688

3. PassedSenate voteMarch 6, 2026

   27 yea, 21 nay (1 not voting, 6 absent)

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #689

• election administration
• voter registration
• voting equipment
• ballot recounts
• election audits