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Final Report and Recommendations of the Georgia Secretary of State's Elections Advisory Council

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Final Report and Recommendations of the Georgia Secretary of State's Elections Advisory Council Final Report and Recommendations of the Georgia Secretary of State’s Elections Advisory Council P a g e | 2 Greetings, As your Secretary of State and Chief Elections Administrator it is my agency’s responsibility to ensure a secure, accessible and fair elections process for every eligible Georgia voter. We have achieved these goals by implementing e-government solutions to increase information available to voters, fighting to protect our election laws in the courts and levying significant fines and sanctions against those who commit election fraud. Thanks to these initiatives we have made Georgia a national model for election security and integrity. Though we are proud of the progress we have made to secure our elections and guarantee access to the ballot box, there are always opportunities to improve our election processes at all levels of government. I formed the Secretary of State’s Elections Advisory Council (EAC) to review the Georgia Election Code, State Election Board Rules and all our election processes throughout 2011 and make recommendations that improve and strengthen Georgia’s election laws and procedures. The EAC looked particularly at improvements that will create cost savings and increase efficiencies at the state, county and local government levels. The EAC was comprised of the following experienced election officials and leaders from across Georgia: •Lynn Bailey, Executive Director, Richmond County Board of Elections •Richard Barclift, Elections Superintendent, City of Chickamauga •Todd Blackwell, Baldwin County Probate Judge and Elections Superintendent •Nancy Boren, Director, Muscogee County Office of Elections and Voter Registration •State Senator Hardie Davis (D - Augusta) •State Representative Mark Hamilton (R - Cumming) •Mike Jablonski, General Counsel, Democratic Party of Georgia •State Representative Rusty Kidd (I - Milledgeville) •Beth Kish, Elections and Registration Manager, Cobb County Board of Elections & Registration •Anne Lewis, General Counsel, Georgia Republican Party •Charles Schwabe, Mayor, City of Swainsboro •David Shock, Associate Professor of Political Science, Kennesaw State University •Jeff “Bodine” Sinyard, Chairman, Dougherty County Commission •Charlotte Sosebee, Hall County Elections Director •State Senator Cecil Staton (R - Macon) The EAC conducted meetings in Atlanta, Savannah, Albany and Augusta to receive input from the public, organizations, county elections directors and elected officials. Each EAC meeting featured a period reserved for public comment, so citizens could provide members and others in attendance an overview of their issues and ideas. In addition, the EAC’s website featured an e-government resource that allowed Georgians to submit their ideas to strengthen Georgia’s elections online. I want to thank every citizen who took time to attend a public meeting or submit a suggestion for election reform, and each EAC member for their many hours of service, travel and dedication. This report demonstrates that despite our sometimes partisan differences, men and women dedicated to improving our great state can do so in a non-partisan manner for the benefit of all Georgians. Sincerely, Brian Kemp Georgia Secretary of State P a g e | 3 Table of Contents Items for the Georgia General Assembly to consider in 2012 .................................................................................4 Items for a Georgia General Assembly legislative study committee .......................................................................8 Items for the Georgia Election Code and State Election Board Rules Review Committee ..................................10 Items that require future study by the Secretary of State’s Office .........................................................................13 Items for the Georgia State Election Board to enact as a rule change ...................................................................14 Addendum ..............................................................................................................................................................15 P a g e | 4 Items for the Georgia General Assembly to consider in 2012 The Elections Advisory Council unanimously supports the items listed in this section and urges the Georgia General Assembly to adopt them in the 2012 legislative session. Changes to Candidate Qualification Process Amend the process by which Independent and political body candidates qualify for placement on the ballot O.C.G.A. § 21-2-132(h)(1), -(153)(a.1), -170(b) and -180(1) set the number of signatures needed by a candidate to run as an Independent at a number “equal to 1 percent of the total number of registered voters eligible to vote in the last election” for a statewide office or 5 percent for any other office. The Council supports lowering these thresholds by basing the percentage needed on the total voter turnout in that jurisdiction in the previous presidential election. Historically, voter turnout for a presidential election has been approximately 75 percent. Amend the dates in which candidates may file a notice of candidacy The Council supports amending O.C.G.A. § 21-2-132(d) and -132(i) to give Independent and political body candidates the additional option to file their notice of candidacy during the period of political party qualifying. This additional option would not affect those who choose to submit nomination petitions during the period of Independent and political body qualifying as is currently the law. Instead, this change will simply provide an Independent or political body candidate the opportunity to make his or her candidacy official at an earlier date and, if the Independent or political body candidate chooses to do so, will allow political party candidates for a seat to know earlier in the process if an Independent or political body candidate intends to run for that same seat. Exempt from the nomination petition requirement an elected office holder running as an Independent candidate for successive reelection to the same office The Council supports amending O.C.G.A. § 21-2-132(e)(3) to read, “An incumbent qualifying as a candidate to succeed himself or herself.” This change would exempt an officeholder from the requirement of collecting signatures should he or she choose to run for successive reelection to that same office as an Independent. A bill addressing this change was introduced by Rep. Rusty Kidd in 2010 as HB 1366. Simplify and clarify qualifying processes for various candidate types O.C.G.A. § 21-2-132(h)(3), -153(a.1) and -170(d) currently set specific requirements for nomination petitions. The Council supports replacing those requirements with language that allows the Secretary of State to create the forms and processes for petitions to be approved by the State Election Board. This change would create a more streamlined process and give flexibility to some of the requirements. For example, the Secretary of State could create forms and processes to allow nomination petition signatures from multiple counties on the same page, or permit a candidate or petition circulator to pre-fill the county name on the nomination petition. Requiring State Election Board approval provides an appropriate review to ensure integrity in the system and that the process is fair. The Council further recommends that for the purposes of uniformity, § 21-2-132(c) include language for municipal nonpartisan qualifying similar to what is described in § 21-2-132(d)(3) for political body and Independent candidates qualifying for municipal elections. Finally, the language in § 21-2-501.1 regarding P a g e | 5 timing whenever a municipal general primary or election is held in conjunction with the general primary or November general election in even-numbered years should be removed and consolidated into § 21-2-9. Ballots Allow absentee ballots to be mailed to incarcerated persons at their place of incarceration O.C.G.A. § 21-2-381(a)(1)(D) states, “…no absentee ballot shall be mailed to an address other than the permanent mailing address of the elector as recorded on the elector’s voter registration record or a temporary out-of-county or out-of-municipality address.” A problem exists with certain electors who are incarcerated but, in accordance with § 21-2-216, are still entitled to receive and vote an absentee ballot. This statute allows a county elections office to mail an absentee ballot to an elector if incarcerated outside his or her county of residence but prevents that office from mailing an absentee ballot to an incarcerated elector in his or her county of residence. The Council supports adding the following language to the end of subsection (D): “except that an absentee ballot shall be mailed to an incarcerated elector at the elector’s place of incarceration.” Allow the absentee ballot application to be used by an elector to change the elector’s name on the voter registration list The Council supports amending O.C.G.A. § 21-2-218(c) to allow a properly submitted absentee ballot application to be used to change the elector’s name on the voter registration list, provided that all necessary information needed to complete such a change is included. Amend O.C.G.A. § 21-2-151(a), which requires local election superintendents to conduct political party primaries O.C.G.A. § 21-2-151(a) allows a political party to put the names of party officers on the primary ballot. As primary ballots are going to be longer due to nonpartisan elections being held on the same election, space on a ballot is at a premium. The
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