House panel passes bill to allow inspection of Georgia ballots

The committee was evenly divided on the bill, but Chairman John LaHood cast the deciding vote in favor of it. The bill now goes to the Rules Committee, which will determine whether it gets a vote by the full House.

HB 426 is the latest in a slew of bills that indicate many Republicans in the General Assembly remain suspicious of elections more than two years after then-President Donald Trump claimed the 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud.

Numerous state and federal investigations found no evidence to support various fraud allegations, and a hand account of each ballot found isolated problems but confirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory.

Two years ago, Republican lawmakers made sweeping changes to Georgia election law in response to fraud claims. And they continue to press for changes.

On Thursday the Georgia Senate voted to ban donations to county election offices, citing concerns about the influence of outside organizations such as the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which was funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Another pending bill would expand the abilities of Georgia residents to challenge the eligibility of other voters and ban the use of absentee ballot drop boxes.

The ability to inspect ballots has also been hotly debated. Some states already treat ballots as public records subject to disclosure. And when the idea surfaced in Georgia last year, it initially had bipartisan support.

But objections surfaced quickly. Opponents were worried that making the public ballots would result in endless “audits” demanded by losing candidates who refused to accept the election results. And they worry about the financial and administrative burden inspections could impose on local election offices.

Janelle Clodfelter of Duluth told the committee Friday that such concerns are outweighed by the need to assure voters that election results are accurate.

“In no case should ever the amount of work required for the public to have confidence in their elections be considered,” she said. “I don’t care how much work it takes.”