The state that handed former President Donald Trump one of his narrowest losses four years ago is immersed in election controversies even before the first ballots of this year’s presidential race are cast.

One measure, to be voted on Friday, would require hand counting of ballots. Critics say that it would create widespread confusion in a state pivotal to the presidential race.

The state election board was recently taken over by a conservative majority. Its latest proposals are dangerously late in the process and most likely illegal, according to the secretary of state.

One of Georgia's most well-known transgender women has been killed in her home, a day after the country's parliament passed a major anti-LGBT bill. Local officials say Kesaria Abramidze, 37, was stabbed to death in her flat in the capital Tbilisi on Wednesday.

Georgia's parliament passed a package of anti-LGBTQ laws on Sept. 17 in its third reading. The bills will still need to be signed by pro-Western President Salome Zourabichvili to become law — but a veto by the president can still be overcome by a subsequent vote in parliament.

Students as young as five demanded stricter gun laws Thursday at the Georgia Capitol, weeks after a deadly school shooting northeast of Atlanta