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Over the course of this series, we have shown how insufficient state funding puts Georgia’s election infrastructure at risk. This research has been grounded in interviews with a diverse array of election supervisors from counties large and small, across the state. We have learned that elections in the state would significantly benefit from state funding to recruit and retain poll workers and to maintain voting equipment properly. We have learned that county administrators also need respite from state regulatory volatility, which has created financial instability for county budgets.

We found that both the federal and state governments must do more to support county-level election administration in the state. We recommend that the federal government pass through a portion of the available election administration grant funding directly to county election offices.

The research was conducted in equal partnership with the .

GCPA and the ÈËÊÞÐÔ½» recommend that the state of Georgia adopt the following 12-point funding agenda to deliver concrete support for strong and stable elections in the state.

1. Establish a state-funded stipend for elections clerks and poll managers. This stipend should exceed the outdated minimum pay rates specified under Georgia law (OCGA 21-2-98) and should be increased regularly to track the rising cost of living.
2. Distribute the poll worker stipend through an annual appropriation to the secretary of state’s office at the start of fiscal year. Each county should receive a stipend for every clerk and manager they are required to have per precinct by law, before and on Election Day.
3. Allow for counties to appropriate additional funds for their clerks and poll managers on top of the state stipend, as needed to incentivize recruitment and retention.
4. Delay implementing the QR-code ban from O.C.G.A. 21-2-379.23 (passed as SB 189) until 2029, when the state’s 10-year voting equipment contract will be up for renewal. At that point, the QR-code ban should either be repealed or fully funded within the new equipment purchase.
5. Create a reimbursement program through the secretary of state’s office where county administrators can apply annually to reimburse expenses needed to keep poll pads, ballot marking devices and other equipment operational. The state should fully staff and fund this program through a recurring annual appropriation.
6. Hire ballot marking device (BMD) technicians and fully fund their positions to provide statewide technical support to counties.
7. Purchase additional and sufficient BMD battery backups and distribute them to each county.
8. Require that all election-related bills be accompanied by a fiscal note that accounts for county implementation costs before the bills’ final passage, to support election administrators’ ability to forecast their expenses.
9. Establish a 90-day quiet period for State Election Board rules before statewide elections, so as not to interfere with poll worker training and voter education.
10. Reimburse counties for the costs of special elections called outside of the regular election calendar.
11. Earmark a dedicated revenue stream for election administration, which counties can access, to make up for the financial strain caused by the state’s private funding ban.
12. Create an exception to the state’s private funding ban to allow philanthropic support for elections when a natural disaster or public health emergency has been declared.

Georgia’s voters deserve a stable, reliable democracy. We call on Georgia’s General Assembly to act upon these 12 recommendations and deliver that democracy.