Georgia elections overhaul gutted by state Senate committee, setting up potential showdown

A Georgia state Senate committee on Tuesday gutted a controversial elections overhaul -- a day after local election officials from both parties blasted it as complicating their work in an election year.

The fate of the massive bill -- which sped through the GOP-led state House earlier this month -- is now uncertain and could result in a showdown in the final days of Georgia's legislative session.

In its vote Tuesday, the Senate Ethics Committee stripped out most of the House-approved provisions, including one that would hand new election policing powers to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. The panel advanced only one slice of the original 40-page bill: a requirement that employers provide time off for workers to cast their ballots during the state's early voting period. Current Georgia law mandates time off only on Election Day.