Student Voting Guide | Georgia

Registration

http://www.sos.georgia.gov/elections/ (registration form available online)

As of August 2010, the Department of Justice approved Georgia’s law that requires proof of citizenship to register to vote.  This may be hard for students, and you may want to make sure you have a way to prove citizenship well before the registration deadline.  In order to prove your citizenship when you register, you must provide either: (1) the number of a Georgia driver’s license or non-operating identification license if the applicant provided satisfactory evidence of citizenship to the department of motor vehicles; (2) another state’s enhanced driver’s license (currently only four  states issue such a license: New York, Vermont, Michigan and Washington State); (3) a U.S. birth certificate; (4) a U.S. passport; (5) certain tribal identification; or (6) naturalization papers.[1]

You must register to vote by the close of business on the fifth Monday before Election Day.[2] (This means, if the election is on a Tuesday, registration is due 29 days before the election.) If you mail in your registration, it must be postmarked by that day.[3] You may register to vote within six months before your 18^th birthday.[4]

Residency

At School. If you move to a school address in Georgia with the intent of making it your fixed home, you should be able to establish voting residency in Georgia.[5]  While Georgia law does discuss making your Georgia home “permanent”[6] court cases have made clear that if you have a present intention to remain at your school address, a “floating intention… to move somewhere else at some future period” will not stop you from establishing residency.[7]  Georgia law defines voting residence as domicile.[8]

At Home. Students who lived in Georgia before moving to another state for school, and who wish to establish or keep their Georgia voting residence (i.e., at their parents’ address), should have no problem doing so unless they have already registered to vote in another state.  Like all states, Georgia allows students to keep their voting residency even if they move out of the county or state to attend school.[9]  The only way you will lose this residency is if you “abandon” it by asserting residency in a new state. While registering to vote in another state is not automatically considered an abandonment of residency in Georgia, some judges or officials might view it as such.  On the other hand, voting in another state will result in an automatic abandonment of residency in Georgia.[10]

Challenges to Residency. If you are initially found ineligible on the basis of residence by the county board of registrars, you will be notified by mail.[11]  Additionally, your eligibility can be challenged by another voter when you apply[12] or questioned by the board of registrars[13]  after your registration but before the election.  If another voter wants to challenge your registration, they have to do so in writing, giving specific grounds for the challenge.[14]  The burden is on them to prove that you are not eligible.[15]  If your registration is questioned or challenged, you will be given a hearing with at least three days’ notice,[16] and you can appeal the decision to court within ten days.[17]

Your eligibility can also be challenged before an election by another voter.[18]  The challenge must be made in writing and must be made before you vote.[19] (If you vote by absentee ballot, the challenge has to be made by 5:00 pm on the day before the election.[20])  If there is time before the polls close, the board of registrars will hear the challenge and make a determination to either allow you to vote or to remove your name from the list of electors.[21]  If there is not time before the polls close to hear the challenge, you can vote a challenged ballot and receive a full hearing after the election.[22]  You can appeal that hearing to court.[23]

Identification

All voters must show photo ID at the polls to vote a regular ballot.[24]  Acceptable forms of photo ID include: a Georgia drivers’ license (which can be expired), a valid U.S. passport, a valid employee ID card from the federal or any level of Georgia government, a military ID, a tribal identification card, or any other photo ID card issued by any agency of the state or federal government, including a Georgia voter ID card.[25]  If you go to a public college or university in Georgia, you will be able to use your student ID.[26]  Voter ID cards are provided for free in every county; to get one, you need to provide documents that show your legal name and date of birth, proof that you’re registered to vote in Georgia, and your name and address where you are registered.[27]  If you cannot show ID, you will have to vote a provisional ballot, which will not be counted unless you provide ID to the county registrars within two days after the election.[28]

Additionally, if you are a first-time voter who wants to vote by mail, and the state was not able to verify the identifying numbers you listed on your registration form (i.e., your Georgia driver’s license number or non-driver ID card number, or the last four digits of your Social Security number), you will have to include a copy of ID with your mail-in ballot.[29]  Acceptable ID includes one of the above-listed forms of photo ID, or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document with your name and address on it.[30]

Absentee Voting

Georgia has no-fault absentee voting, including for first-time voters.[31]  Your request for an absentee ballot has to be received by close of business on the Friday before the election.[32]  Your absentee ballot must be received by the county board of registrars’ office by the close of the polls on Election Day.[33]  First-time voters who registered by mail and whose identities have not been verified by the state will have to include a copy of ID with their absentee ballots (see ID section above).

Early Voting

As a convenience to voters, some counties in Georgia offer early voting.[34]  At early voting sites, you can vote any precinct’s ballot for that county.  If you do not consider your school address to be your permanent address, or if you have not changed your residence yet, then early voting provides an opportunity to vote a ballot at the residence from which you are absent.  You should contact your local county elections office for locations and hours.

 

Last Updated in August 2010

 

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[1] Ga. Code. Ann. §21-2-216(g)(2)(A-G). 

[2] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-224(a) (2010).

[3] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-224(c).

[4] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-216.

[5] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-217(a)(1) (2010).

[6] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-217(a)(3).

[7] Clark v. Hammock, 228 Ga. 157, 158 (1971) (quoting Smith v. Smith, 223 Ga. 551, 553 (1967)).

[8] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-2(32) (2010).

[9] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-217(a)(8).

[10] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-217(a)(13).

[11] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-226(d).

[12] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-229(a).

[13] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-228(a) (2010).

[14] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-229(a). 

[15] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-229(c).

[16] Ga. Code. Ann. §§ 21-2-228(d); 21-2-229(b).

[17] Ga. Code. Ann. §§ 21-2-228(f ); 21-2-229(e).

[18] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-230 (2010).

[19] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-230(a). 

[20] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-230(a) (2010). 

[21] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-230(h).

[22] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-230(i).

[23] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-229(e), -230(i).

[24] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-417. 

[25] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-417(a) (2010). 

[26] Georgia Secretary of State, Georgia Voter Identification Requirements, “Frequently Asked Questions”, available at http://sos.georgia.gov/gaphotoid/FAQ.html (last visited April 7, 2010).  Students who attend private colleges or universities may not use their student ID and must provide one of the six acceptable forms of ID.  Id. 

[27] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-417.1 (2010).

[28] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-419.

[29] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(D) (2010).

[30] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(D).

[31] Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-380(b).

[32] See Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-384(a)(2).

[33] See Ga. Code. Ann. § 21-2-386(a)(1)(A); see also Georgia Secretary of State, Georgia Voter Identification Requirements, “Frequently Asked Questions”, available at http://sos.georgia.gov/gaphotoid/FAQ.html (last visited on April 30, 2010).

[34] Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-382 (2010).