GOP-controlled Georgia election board asks DOJ to declare state’s voting machines illegal

Georgia’s Republican-controlled election board invited the Department of Justice (DOJ) Thursday to declare the state’s voting system unlawful before the upcoming midterm elections.

In a letter Thursday, State Election Board (SEB) Executive Director James Mills (R) asked the DOJ to “prohibit” the state’s use of voting machines previously certified by the federal government.

Mills also asked the DOJ to “set a binding six-month deadline” to force the state to phase out machines that he asked it to deem illegal.

The request is an extraordinary assault on Georgia’s voting system by unelected officials appointed to make and enforce the state’s election rules. It was also sent despite several SEB members — including the chairman — denouncing federal involvement in state election procedures.

The DOJ lacks the legal authority to declare voting machines unlawful or unilaterally seize voting equipment, as the U.S. Constitution gives state and local officials the power to administer elections.

However, the letter comes after President Donald Trump has repeatedly attempted to exert greater control over state election procedures, including what machines can be used to cast ballots. In particular, election deniers have repeatedly attacked Georgia’s voting machines since Trump’s loss in the state in the 2020 presidential election.

Mills’ letter concerns Georgia electronic ballot-marking devices, which voters use to make their selections. Those selections are then encoded in QR codes that are later scanned by tabulators during the vote counting process.

Specifically in his letter, Mills asked Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, to declare “the use of unreadable, unverifiable QR-code-based voter tabulation and any other electronic tabulation method that does not permit the voter to verify the vote that is actually counted” unlawful under the Help America Vote Act (HAVA).

Voting machine experts have recommended that states move away from ballot-marking devices that encode votes in bar or QR codes. However, the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), which HAVA established to test and certify voting equipment used in U.S. elections, has certified Georgia’s voting machines.

In fact, Georgia law bars election officials from using voting equipment not certified by the EAC.

Dominion Voting Systems, a voting machine company that was at the center of baseless election conspiracy theories, manufactured most of Georgia’s voting systems. The company has since been acquired by Liberty Vote. 

In a meeting earlier this week, three SEB members passed a resolution directing Mills to seek assistance from the Trump administration in a crusade to force a last-minute software update to the state’s voting system.

Carolyn Roddy, the Republican Party’s appointee to the SEB, introduced the resolution and was joined in passing it by Vice Chair Janelle King, who represents the Republican-held state House on the board, and Salleigh Grubbs, Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’ appointee.

Grubbs supported it despite calling herself “a strict constitutionalist” and saying she opposed federal involvement in state election matters.

John Fervier, the board’s chairman and Gov. Brian Kemp’s (R) appointee, strongly opposed the resolution, saying it was inviting the federal government to become directly involved in state matters.

“I have a fundamental issue with the federal government becoming involved in Georgia elections,” Fervier said. “I just fundamentally disagree with it.”

Mills also copied U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin on the letter.

In a separate letter to Blanche earlier this year, Mullin asked the DOJ to declare bar- or QR-encoding machines unlawful under HAVA.

Mills asked the Trump administration to interfere with the state’s voting system even as Georgia is in the process of completely overhauling how it conducts elections. 

Earlier this year, a Georgia special committee embarked on a years-long effort that will likely lead to the phasing out of QR-encoding ballot-marking devices for most voters. Under federal law, however, ballot marking devices must still be made available to the public, particularly for voters with disabilities who may not be able to fill out a hand-marked ballot without assistance.

This story has been updated with additional information throughout.