Groups critical of Georgia voting practices

A new report says Georgia is among 3 swing states that stand-out for having the most concerns with voting issues ahead of November’s general election.

The study put-out by the non-partisan groups "Common Cause" and the "Century Foundation’"says Georgia’s voter identification laws disenfranchise certain groups.

It also questions whether enough safeguards are in place against deceptive voting practices and whether third-party registration drives are unfairly regulated in some counties.

The state got good marks for poll worker training, and also for its statewide voter database. But Bill Bozarth with Common Cause Georgia says standards around the database are problematic.

"The degree to which that can be used to validate whether people are really eligible to vote is something that lacks any sort of statewide standard," Bozarth says.

But Secretary of state Karen Handel says the report’s concerns are unfounded.
She says the problems were all policy related and noted the Common Cause was one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit questioning Georgia's photo ID law.

Handel says Georgia’s counties are ready to handle what is expected to be historically high voter turnout. She urges people to vote early with a goal of having 25 percent of all votes cast before election day.