Georgia Senate passes voting bill over Democrats’ objections

Georgia’s Senate Democrats on Saturday opposed bills that would address the state’s voting system and local sales taxes for property tax relief.Senate Bill 3EX nonetheless passed the full body, including a new amendment requiring hand recounts of the top two races in an election.
Democrats had already opposed the bill in the Senate Ethics Committee on Thursday, saying it did not guarantee their party would have a seat on a commission that would create the new voting system. They also rejected the amendment.
Senate Minority Leader Kim Jackson of Stone Mountain said the amendment would burden the state’s 159 counties. Jackson used Fulton County, the state’s largest county, and this year’s general election as examples.
“Fulton County will have to hire a ton of people to come in and hand count each, every ballot for both the U.S. Senate race and the gubernatorial race,” Jackson said. “A party that talks about being a conservative party is adding an incredible amount of expense on top of every single county by requrining them to have to hand count these ballots.”
Jackson later called the process a “sham and a waste of taxpayers’ dollars.”
“And this is going to be continued to be a further sham, by wasting taxpayers’ dollars by passing something that we know is unconstitutional, because it is outside of the governor’s proclamation, and then you are going to force us to have to make decisions about a process that we were never included in in the first place,” Jackson said.
The bill, which advanced from the Senate Ethics Committee, creates a nine-member committee to recommend a new voting system. It also extends the deadline for Senate Bill 189 from July 1 to Jan. 1, 2028. The General Assembly passed the bill in 2024, but did not fund or create an alternative method for counting ballots. SB3EX also expands the number of races for post-election audits.
Gov. Brian Kemp’s call for the special session says it is to “address issues created by the July 1, 2026, effective date for the changes” to Senate Bill 189.
Senators passed the bill 33-19 along party lines. It goes to the House Governmental Affairs Committee, which will hear it on Monday. A full House vote could happen Monday afternoon if the committee advances it.
Senate Democrats also voted against local legislation that would allow more than 80 cities and counties to ask their voters to approve a penny sales tax that would offset property taxes.
Augusta Democrat Harold Jones II said the sales tax proposal shows that Democrats and Republicans have two different visions of Georgia.
“One actually wants to increase those sales taxes and when people go to the grocery store, it does add up quite a bit,” Jones said. “And one that actually says we’re going to help people.”
The bills needed a two-thirds vote of the Senate to pass and failed twice: first in a consent calendar vote that included all the bills, and then in attempts to pass them individually. The chamber considered three of the individual bills before adjourning, after all three failed.
The bills were also rejected by House Democrats. The House will reconsider the bills on Monday.

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