The Georgia Hour, episode 56: Chaos and Corruption: Georgia Legislative Session Ends with Election Integrity Failures and GOP Ballot Manipulation

The Geor­gia leg­isla­tive session’s Sine Die on Fri­day, mark­ing the 40th day, where a $38 bil­lion bud­get passed, with $250 rebates to hard­work­ing Geor­gians, but elec­tion integri­ty bills HB397 and SB214 failed. Despite hopes of exit­ing the ERIC vot­er sys­tem and adopt­ing paper bal­lots, Gov­er­nor Bri­an Kemp and Speak­er Jon Burns are accused of block­ing progress, with the GA House opt­ing for a study com­mit­tee instead of vot­ing on reforms. Sec­re­tary of State Brad Raffensperger’s influ­ence, bol­stered by the Curl­ing vs. Raf­fensperg­er dis­missal, is cit­ed as a key fac­tor, along­side his refusal to share vot­er rolls.

Inter­nal­ly, GA GOP chair Josh McK­oon faces back­lash for alleged­ly rig­ging bal­lot access, bar­ring Lisa Pierce and Kylie Kre­mer from run­ning while favor­ing Salleigh Grubbs. Colton Moore’s video expos­ing this sparked pan­ic, forc­ing endorse­ment retrac­tions and leav­ing dark mon­ey oper­a­tive Deb­bie Doo­ley scram­bling. Crit­ics claim McK­oon, Kemp, and Burns under­mined elec­tion secu­ri­ty efforts tied to Pres­i­dent Trump, with the GA GOP accused of fake sup­port for reform. The session’s end marks the first year since 2020 with­out elec­tion law changes, fuel­ing calls to “drain the swamp” with­in the par­ty.