Paulding County, Georgia

Candidate fields are set for county commission, school board and other local races across eight North Georgia counties — Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Forsyth, Hall, Cherokee and Paulding — ahead of the 2026 midterms. The contests mix incumbents seeking reelection, open seats and several unopposed candidates. Notable races include Fulton County's commission chair contest between Mo Ivory and Eric Tatum, a crowded special election for Fulton's District 4 seat, and rematches such as Bridget Thorne versus Maggie Goldman in Fulton District 1.

These local races typically draw less prediction-market attention than statewide or federal contests, but the lineups give early visibility into competitive seats and turnout dynamics heading into next year's elections.

Georgia's Joint Election Equipment Specifications and Standards Committee, created by the legislature's Special Session Senate Resolution 3 EX and chaired by Sen. Max Burns and Rep. Victor Anderson, held its third meeting to evaluate requirements for the state's next election equipment, focused on hand-marked paper ballots produced via ballot-on-demand printing.

Secretary of state officials reviewed Georgia's voting system history since 2000, including 2005 touchscreen upgrades and 2006 electronic poll books. Cybersecurity experts, including Geoff Hale of the Center for Democracy and Technology and Michael Specter of Georgia Tech, testified that election infrastructure faces persistent cyber threats, though no confirmed vote-tally interference has occurred. Vendors and voting-integrity advocates, including Verified Voting's Mark Lindeman and Mojave Research's Jason Wareham, urged hand-marked paper ballots, independent security research access, and systems that "fail loudly" on errors, while preserving accessible ballot-marking devices for voters with disabilities.

Officials described the goal as a system that is easy to vote but hard to cheat, echoing Gov. Brian Kemp, with an aggressive timeline to get any new system to county officials for training ahead of future elections.