VRM in the States: Georgia
May 29, 2012
Georgia currently has the Electronic Registration at DMVs component of Voter Registration Modernization in place. Georgia also has electronic pollbooks.
The excerpt below was adapted from an appendix to the 2010 report Voter Registration in a Digital Age.
- Background
Until recently Georgia’s Department of Driver Services (DDS) used a partially automated system of voter registration, transmitting data to election officials electronically while also collecting and mailing paper forms. In December 2009 this process became completely electronic: all required input, including digitized signatures, is now sent electronically from DDS offices to election officials. The Secretary of State's office developed this upgraded process in-house, without any separate appropriations.
- Outcomes
State Director of Elections Wesley Tailor reports that, beyond savings at the county level, full automation has relieved state officials of printing, sorting, and mailing expenses; formerly they served as intermediaries in directing forms from DDS offices to the appropriate county election officials, a process that could take up to ten days in its entirety.
