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President Donald Trump’s new executive order on regulating elections is striking for the way it asserts broad powers for the executive branch that go far beyond what’s prescribed in the Constitution or sanctioned by courts. Experts expect the order to face legal challenges for that reason.
But what’s also striking about the order is how it seeks to dictate some arcane details of the way voting systems work in some of America: Specifically, it bans the machine-readable barcodes or QR codes that are sometimes printed on ballots to help speed up vote counting.
Trump framed this move as a return to secure, paper-based voting. But in reality, the vast majority of Americans already use paper-based systems to vote, and barcodes and QR codes are an integral part of some of those systems. Getting rid of them as quickly as Trump envisions could create confusion, hassles, and steep costs for the jurisdictions that use them, which include some of America’s largest cities. It would slow down vote counts, and wouldn’t necessarily improve their accuracy.
So the language of the Trump order naturally raises questions about how barcodes and QR codes are used in our voting systems, and why the administration is directly targeting these codes as an urgent threat to election security and integrity.
Here’s a closer look at some of those questions:
How are barcodes and QR codes used on ballots?
A fairly typical voting system that’s widely accepted in U.S. elections involves hand-marked paper ballots. Voters check or fill in boxes for their choices, or write them in, and then insert the completed ballot into a machine that reads the selections and tabulates the results.
Some counties in recent years have adopted a different system. In these jurisdictions, including some of the largest metropolitan counties in America, voters use a computer with a touchscreen display to make their selections. Once they’re finished, the computer prints out a completed paper ballot that includes both a human-readable summary of their selections and a barcode or QR code that encodes the same information. Voters have a chance to review the printed ballot before inserting it into a tabulation machine for counting. The machine reads the coded selections, while leaving a paper record that can be double-checked by a human later.
Not all machine-printed ballot systems rely solely on the codes. In many cases, the tabulators can read the marked bubbles or text selections, as with the hand-marked ballot systems. But counties that use barcode-based systems say they allow for faster, more efficient counting without sacrificing accuracy.
What did Trump’s executive order say about QR codes on ballots?
While the Constitution gives state legislatures and Congress the power to determine how elections are run, Trump is aiming to regulate them in part through the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, an agency that helps develop guidelines for states and local governments to ensure that their voting systems are secure and accurate, and oversees certification of new systems.
Trump’s order directs the EAC to amend the federal Voluntary Voting System Guidelines to say that voting systems are not allowed to use QR codes or barcodes in the counting of votes, except when necessary to accommodate voters with disabilities.
Trump’s order gives the EAC 180 days to review and potentially recertify voting systems under these updated standards, and rescind certifications based on previous guidelines.
The VVSG sets minimum standards for how election systems should operate. Although they’re officially voluntary, most states use them as benchmarks when choosing election equipment, and many states have laws requiring new voting equipment to meet current VVSG standards, effectively making compliance mandatory at the state or local level.
On Thursday, a coalition of civil rights groups released a letter to the EAC saying it would be illegal for the agency to take action in response to Trump’s executive order. The president “has no authority to direct the Commission” to modify the VVSG, the groups wrote, adding that any such changes must follow the timelines and processes set in federal law.
What is Trump’s concern with systems that use barcodes and QR codes?
The concern involves the demand for voter-verifiable paper records, a system that blends paper ballots with machine verification and tabulation for accessibility, efficiency, and security. Election security experts consider this the gold standard because it ensures that voters can check their selections before casting their ballot, and it creates a physical record that can be used for an audit or recount later if needed. Nearly all U.S. states have transitioned to these types of voting systems, including some that rely on barcodes or QR codes. (Louisiana and some parts of Texas still use electronic systems that produce no paper records.)
Trump’s executive order affirms support for voter-verifiable paper records as the nationwide standard. But his opposition to barcodes responds to the concerns of critics and some election security experts who say barcode-based systems don’t produce voter-verifiable paper records, because what the machine tabulates is based on a code, not the selections that humans can read. The voter can’t truly verify what the machine is reading.
The QR code could theoretically be inaccurate, or manipulated to misrepresent votes, without the voter’s knowledge, these critics argue.
This debate isn’t new. Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold said in 2019 that the state would eliminate QR codes from ballots as a proactive step to avoid any vulnerability. And former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein fought, unsuccessfully, to have this type of voting machine decertified in Pennsylvania on these grounds.
Georgia passed legislation last year requiring QR codes to be removed from ballots by 2026.
Have there been inaccuracies involving ballots with QR codes in past elections?
One notable case is from Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in 2023, where the choices represented by the machine-generated code differed from the selections that appeared on the human-readable printout. But in this case, county officials said, it was the code that accurately reflected the voter’s choices. A programming error had caused the text version to incorrectly display voters’ choices in a judicial retention race. But the votes were tabulated correctly based on the code.
Barcodes or no barcodes, every state but Alabama requires post-election audits to ensure the accuracy of results.
Which states or counties will be most affected by this order? What would banning QR codes on ballots mean for them?
According to Verified Voting, an organization focused on election technology, there are 1,954 counties spread across 40 states that use voting machines that print QR or barcodes. Some have only a small number for use only by voters with disabilities (and would therefore not have to get rid of them), while other jurisdictions use them for all voters.
Among the users are some very large jurisdictions, including Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Dallas. The executive order would require those jurisdictions to replace or update all of their machines on a short timetable, costing potentially millions of dollars.
In debates leading up to Georgia’s ban, the costs associated with eliminating QR codes were estimated at up to $66 million for new equipment and software updates.
Portage County, a 70,000-person county in central Wisconsin, just spent $750,000 to switch to ExpressVote machines, which print voters’ choices on a paper ballot and encodes them in machine-readable barcodes — the type of voting machines that may be disallowed under this order.
What’s currently allowed under the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines?
The most updated guidelines, VVSG 2.0, were passed in 2021. No voting systems designed to these standards are yet on the market, but the agency has three systems currently in its certification process.
The VVSG 2.0 guidelines require a voter-verifiable paper trail, according to Kristen Muthig, the EAC’s director of communications. Barcodes are allowed if they “include human-readable representations of the ballot for a voter or auditor to verify,” Muthig told Votebeat. This means codes can be used to speed up machine tabulation, but they cannot be the sole record of a voter’s choices — there must also be printed text that clearly reflects those choices.
How would this change affect voting?
Counties using barcode-assisted systems would need to replace expensive equipment, retrain poll workers, and educate voters, all under tight timelines ahead of the November election. That could cause disruptions and confusion during the initial implementation phases.
Moreover, the removal of QR codes could affect the speed and efficiency of vote tabulation, as optical scanning systems can process QR codes more quickly and accurately than human-readable text.
Jessica Huseman is Votebeat’s editorial director and is based in Dallas. Contact Jessica at jhuseman@votebeat.org.
