Georgia

Georgia passed SB 202 after the 2020 election, slashing drop boxes in the counties where Black voters are concentrated. The state then purged 471,000 voter registrations in a single wave. Now the Supreme Court’s Callais ruling has given the legislature a green light to redraw congressional maps, and a special session starts June 17.

Governor Kemp is term-limited. Every statewide office is open. Keisha Lance Bottoms won the Democratic primary with 58%. The GOP governor’s race heads to a June 16 runoff.

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SB 202 hit Black voters hardest

SB 202 requires drop boxes to be kept inside early voting locations with limited hours. It imposed new ID requirements on mail ballot applications. The result is measurable in rejection rates and access gaps.

77% drop in drop boxes across the 8 counties with the highest Black, Asian, and Latino populations

Fulton County went from 38 drop boxes in 2020 to 8. Gwinnett went from 23 to 6. Nearly three-quarters of Black voters lost access to a drop box in their home county, compared with just over half of white voters.

Metric	Black voters	White voters
Mail ballot application rejection gap	25 percentage points more likely	Baseline
Voters lacking valid ID in registration file (2024)	~130,000	~80,000
Mail ballot use drop (2020 to 2024)	29% to 5%	19-point decline
Drop box access lost in home county	~75%	~50%

More than 1.6 million registered voters faced increased barriers. The racial turnout gap widened after SB 202, with white turnout increasing while Black turnout fell in 2024.

Voter purges

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger targeted 477,883 inactive registrations for cancellation in 2025, canceling roughly 471,000, about 6% of the state’s voters.

Black Voters Matter Fund sued Raffensperger for refusing to release full purge records under the National Voter Registration Act. Without those records, no one can verify whether eligible voters were wrongly removed.

A 2022 mass challenge to 37,000 voters in Gwinnett County forced 5 to 10 election staffers to work all day, six days a week for multiple weeks. The challenges are designed to exhaust election offices.

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The Callais ruling lets Georgia erase Black congressional districts

The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Louisiana v. Callais on April 29, 2026, that majority-Black congressional districts relying on race in their construction violate equal protection. Plaintiffs challenging maps under the Voting Rights Act must now prove intentional racial discrimination, not just discriminatory effects.

Governor Kemp called a special session for June 17 to redraw congressional, state Senate, and state House maps. The new maps take effect for 2028.

Within hours of the Callais decision, Florida passed a new map diluting Black and Hispanic voting power. Alabama and Louisiana reverted to single majority-Black districts, scrapping second districts ordered by lower courts. Tennessee halted ongoing elections to redraw maps.

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Georgia banned QR code ballots but forgot to fund a replacement

Georgia’s Dominion touchscreens (now rebranded as Liberty Vote) print ballots listing the voter’s choices in plain text next to a QR code. The scanners read the QR code, not the printed text. Voters have no way to verify what the QR code actually says.

In 2024 the legislature banned QR code tabulation starting July 1, 2026. Then it adjourned without choosing a replacement system or funding one.

$300 million estimated cost to replace the system. Legislature allocated $0.

A compromise bill letting counties keep current machines through 2026 while requiring QR-code-free systems by 2028 passed the House. Senate Republicans declined to take it up. Now 159 counties must prepare for November with no chosen procedures, no purchased equipment, and no fixed law.

Kemp’s June 17 special session will address the QR code crisis alongside redistricting. County election officials are waiting.

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Georgia banned trans athletes from sports. Zero trans athletes were playing.

Governor Kemp signed SB 1, the Riley Gaines Act, on April 28, 2025. It takes effect July 1, 2026. The law requires all public schools from elementary through college to designate teams by sex assigned at birth and bans transgender girls from girls’ teams. It also restricts restroom, locker room, and sleeping quarter access during athletic events.

0 transgender athletes currently competing in Georgia schools when the law was signed

The law defines male as someone who produces sperm and female as someone who produces ovum. That definition creates enforcement problems beyond trans athletes. Any student whose appearance does not match expectations could face a challenge.

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Every statewide office is open in November

Kemp is term-limited. For the first time in a Georgia midterm, Democratic primary voters outnumbered Republicans, casting roughly 53% of all primary ballots on May 19.

Race	Democrat	Republican	Status
Governor	Keisha Lance Bottoms (57%)	Burt Jones (38%) vs. Rick Jackson (33%)	GOP runoff June 16
Attorney General	Tanya Miller (84.5%)	Brian Strickland (71.6%)	General election Nov 3

Bottoms won the Democratic primary outright against Michael Thurmond, Jason Esteves, and Geoff Duncan. On the Republican side, Trump-endorsed Lt. Gov. Burt Jones faces healthcare billionaire Rick Jackson in a June 16 runoff.

The attorney general race will determine who controls the state’s legal strategy on voting rights and challenges to the new redistricting maps. Republican SB 577 would give the AG exclusive authority over pollution lawsuits while barring local governments from filing their own cases.

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What’s next

The June 17 special session will determine Georgia’s congressional maps for 2028 and whether the QR code ballot crisis gets resolved before November. The Republican gubernatorial runoff is June 16. The general election is November 3.

Protect yourself right now

1. Check your voter registration. Georgia purged 471,000 registrations in 2025. Verify your status at mvp.sos.ga.gov.

2. Know your mail ballot ID. If you vote by mail, confirm the driver’s license number on your application matches your registration file. Black voters were 25 percentage points more likely to have applications rejected because of ID mismatches.

3. Find your drop box and its hours. Drop boxes are now inside early voting locations with limited hours. Locate yours through your county elections office before you need it.

4. Watch the special session. June 17. The legislature will redraw your congressional district and decide the future of your ballot system. Testimony slots fill fast.

5. Show up to your county election board meetings. County officials are making decisions about voting equipment with no state guidance. They need to hear from voters, not just vendors.