The Georgia General Assembly adjourned its 2026 regular legislative session on April 2 after sending six election-related bills to Gov. Brian Kemp (R). Kemp signed the bills on May 11 and 12.
Among those bills was HB 369, which makes elections for district attorney, county commission, and some other county offices nonpartisan in Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett counties. The offices will be elected on the statewide primary date in even-numbered years.
The Senate passed the final version of HB 369 32-21 on March 25 with all 32 Republicans voting in favor and 21 Democrats against. The House adopted the bill in a 93-64 vote on March 27, with 93 Republicans voting in favor and 62 Democrats and two Republicans voting against.
Lawmakers also approved HR 251, which submits a constitutional amendment to voters that would require all probate judges to be elected on a nonpartisan basis.
Other election bills enacted in 2026 include:
- HB 651 , which requires municipalities to submit the question of whether to purchase automated traffic enforcement safety devices for school zones to voters.
- HB 1215 , which adds an additional judgeship to the superior courts of the Atlanta Circuit, Clayton Circuit, Gwinnett Circuit, Middle Circuit, and Northeastern Circuit, and establishes procedures for the appointment and election of those judges.
- SB 33 , which requires that special elections on measures relating to an increase in revenue by a local governing authority only be held on certain dates.
The Senate also adopted SR 563, a resolution urging the Georgia secretary of state to comply with the U.S. Department of Justice's request to produce the state's voter registration list.
On the final day of the session, the House passed an amended version of SB 214, which would require the state to provide new voting machines as soon as possible after February 2027 and to delay a state law prohibiting the use of electronic ballot markers that produce QR codes or barcodes for tabulation. Currently, the prohibition on QR codes takes effect in 2026. The Senate did not reconsider the bill. Kemp called a special session on the issue that is scheduled to begin on June 1.
Georgia has a Republican trifecta. Republicans do not have a veto-proof majority in either chamber of the General Assembly.
Lawmakers enacted six election-related bills and resolutions in 2025, four in 2024, and six in 2023. There were 44 election bills introduced in 2026, compared with 46 in 2025.
