Appeals Court Weighs Georgia Voting Machine Challenge
An 11th Circuit panel heard arguments on reviving a lawsuit over the state's QR-code ballot marking devices used for in-person voting.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Elections
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An 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard arguments on whether to revive a lawsuit challenging Georgia's electronic in-person voting system. A lower court dismissed the voters' claims in 2025, concluding they had not identified a legally protected interest affected by the system.
Why it matters
The case questions whether voters can challenge the security of electronic voting equipment in federal court and what burden they must meet. Georgia has already passed a law to eliminate QR codes from ballots, shifting the debate over how votes are tabulated in the state.
Georgia's ballot marking devices tabulate votes using a QR code, and the state's revised deadline to eliminate those codes is 2028, extended from July 2026. The appeals court has not indicated when it will rule on whether the dismissed claims can proceed.
The players
Dominion Voting Systems
Dominion Voting Systems is a voting technology company whose equipment Georgia purchased under a 2019 contract for its election system.
J. Alex Halderman
J. Alex Halderman is a University of Michigan computer science professor and election security researcher whose testimony was relied on by the voter coalition.
Coalition for Good Governance
The Coalition for Good Governance is a voting-integrity advocacy group that joined the voters in challenging Georgia's electronic voting system.
The details
Voters and the Coalition for Good Governance argue the lower court improperly imposed an elevated burden on their challenge and want hand-marked paper ballots to replace the electronic system. The state says printed ballots show each voter's selections for review before scanning, and the voter coalition relied on testimony about a January 2021 breach of voting machines in Coffee County to argue votes could be altered through the QR code.
Timeline
2017: The case was first brought to federal court challenging the paperless voting system.
2019: Georgia's Secretary of State purchased a contract with Dominion Voting Systems.
January 2021: Voting machines at the Coffee County elections office were breached.
2024: A 17-day trial was held in the case.
2025: A lower court dismissed the voters' claims.
Political Context
The voter coalition's appeal relies heavily on the January 2021 breach of voting machines at the Coffee County elections office as evidence of vulnerability. Georgia's legislature has responded by moving to remove QR codes from ballots by 2028, signaling that the security debate is shaping state policy even as the federal case proceeds.
Georgia voters will continue using the current QR-code ballot marking devices until the state's 2028 deadline to eliminate those codes takes effect. Any ruling reviving the lawsuit could eventually change how in-person ballots are marked and counted.
The takeaway
Election security disputes often hinge on whether voters can show a concrete legal injury before courts reach the technical questions. Readers following Georgia's voting system should watch both the appellate ruling and the state's QR-code phase-out timeline.
Further reading
For more on how states are handling election security, see Elections coverage across Georgia.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Court House News Service.
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