Election Law @ Moritz

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Edward B. Foley
Free & Fair is a collection of writings by Edward B. Foley, one of the nation's preeminent experts on election law.

State-by-State Coverage (Georgia)

Recent News & Analysis

Below are the most recent Georgia News & Analysis posts. See All Georgia News & Analysis

6/3/09
DOJ Issues a Finding on Georgia Program

On Monday (6/1), the Department of Justice rejected Georgia's voter verification program, which included the use of Social Security numbers and driver's license data to determine citizenship (See the AP story from the Atlanta Journal Constitution for more details).  The Georgia Secretary of State has also issued a press release commenting on the decision.

11/10/08
GA Ballots Thrown Out on Citizenship Grounds

A number of Georgia provisional ballots were discounted after officials were unable to verify the citizenship status of the voters who cast them.  Before the election, a federal judge ordered that individuals be required to cast these provisional ballots when the statewide voter registration database indicated, based on a matching program with the state motor vehicles database and other databases, that they were not yet citizens (see case page here). [Read More]

11/4/08
Federal observers sent to Georgia to monitor controversy over college student registrations

Election Protection is working in Bleckley County, Georgia to ensure that students at Middle Georgia College are able to vote today after voting officials apparently extended, then suddenly withdrew, a deadline that would have ensured students were registered in time to use a regular ballot.

The controversy stems from a registration drive by the Obama campaign at the college, where 90% of the students are African-American. About 500 students were registered prior to the deadline, but the registrar then sent a letter to 370 of the students asking for proof of residence within three days. Most of these students did not even receive the letter until after that deadline had passed. [Read More]

11/4/08
Georgia poll workers not giving out provisional ballots unless voters have ID

One Atlanta precinct lost all voting machines and ran out of printed ballots and paper provisional ballot.  Poll workers at a College Park precinct were not giving out provisional ballots to voters who did not have a government ID.  Election Protection is working with government officials to resolve the situation. [Read More]

10/27/08
Injunction Issues in Georgia Matching Case

A federal court in Georgia on the grounds of failure to obtain VRA preclearance has issued a preliminary injunction against a state database matching program that has flagged some registrants as ineligible to vote due to lack of citizenship.  The injunction requires officials to permit these voters to cast a challenged ballot, and requires officials to notify them of what they must do to ensure the ballot counts (e.g., bring proof of citizenship to the county registration office).  The injunction states that it goes into effect immediately and will remain in effect unless or until preclearance is obtained.  A related news story can be found here.  The case page can be found here. [Read More]

Recent Commentary

There are no commentaries on Georgia that Election Law @ Moritz has covered, or is covering at this time.

Recent News Stories

Below are the most recent Georgia News Stories. See All Georgia News Stories

10/16/09
DOJ spikes Ga. voter citizenship checks again

The U.S. Department of Justice has for the second time rejected Georgia's system of using Social Security numbers and driver's license data to check whether prospective voters are citizens.

9/21/09
Republican candidate launched website to report voter fraud

Brian Kemp, former state senator and a Republican candidate for secretary of state, set up a website where Georgia residents can report fraud and any other elections problems, www.stopvoterfraud.us.

9/7/09
Sandy Springs wants out of Voting Rights Act

Sandy Springs is considering using its history — or lack of it — to try to become the first Georgia city to bail out of the Voting Rights Act.

8/31/09
Secretary of State Handel Joins NASS in Declaring September 2009 National Voter Registration Month

Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel today joined fellow members of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) in declaring September 2009 National Voter Registration Month.

8/30/09
Voter fraud admissions rock Jackson city council

Admission to some 40 counts of voting irregularities by one councilman have rocked the Jackson city council, resulted in huge fines and could lead to criminal prosecutions.

Current Litigation

Below are the Georgia Active Cases. See All Georgia Current and Archived Cases