"Flagged" voters can cast ballots

Thousands of Georgians with voter eligibility in question will get to cast ballots in next week’s election--that word from a panel of federal judges. The process of state election officials continuing verification of new voter registration applicants will continue, pending preclearance from U.S. Justice officials.

The panel ruled Georgia needed to get U.S. Justice Department approval before implementation of a new process to use Social Security numbers and data from drivers licenses to check voters’ immigration status. Georgia is one of several states requiring federal approval before a change to election policy, as required by the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The federal ruling says the Secretary of State’s office must notify those Georgians whose registration is flagged. Those people will be allowed to cast "challenged ballots"--paper ballots put aside until a discrepancy is resolved. The District Court ruling also states no names can be removed from voter lists until a person admits in writing they are ineligible to vote.

Advance voting could ease long lines

Today marks the beginning of advance voting week in Georgia. Registered voters will have more polling locations open in every county to cast ballots throughout the week, with many locations open until 7pm. Several counties have experienced heavy voter volume and long lines--Gwinnett County as example has reported lines as long as three hours or more during the early voting period which has been ongoing. Updated numbers from the Secretary of State's website show more than a million registered Georgians have already cast ballots in early voting. The general election is eight days away.

Early voting continues strong

Early voting in Georgia continues to be strong, now exactly two weeks from the general election. The Secretary of State’s office reports more than 690,000 people have cast ballots ahead of November 4th--that represents nearly 12.5 percent of registered voters in Georgia. More women than men have turned-out early, about 56 percent. DeKalb leads the list of top counties for early voting turnout, followed by three other metro Atlanta counties. Chatham County has had the fifth highest turnout.

Georgia early voting strong 3 weeks in

Nearly 500,000 Georgians have taken advantage of the early voting period in the state, which began September 22nd. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the numbers from the Secretary of State’s office. Of that 500,000 amount, more women than men have already cast ballots. The 500,000 figure is more than advance voting in the 2004 election. Secretary of State Karen Handel has said she’d like to see about a million Georgians vote early, to help relieve the expected crush at the polls November 4th.

Handel responds to lawsuit

Secretary of State Karen Handel says a federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of voter groups against her office is an "orchestrated attempt to dismantle" Georgia’s voter ID process.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Cherokee County man who they say is a victim of voter discrimination—claiming naturalized citizens are unfairly targeted. The suit claims state elections officials did not get federally-required approval for new voter registration policies.

Handel responded, saying the groups want to open the door to allow non-citizens to register to vote in November’s general election. She says safeguards in the verification process are legal, and help ensure only those eligible can vote.

But Jon Greenbaum disagrees—he’s with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law:

"Not only did they fail to get pre-clearance for the changes, not only are voters being purged within 90 days of a federal election, but the database itself has massive problems".

This lawsuit follows a ruling from the U.S. Department of Justice this week. It said Georgia’s action to verify citizenship using Social Security numbers violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Early voting starts today

Early voting begins today across Georgia. Registered voters can cast their ballots ahead of November’s general election either in person or by mail. State election officials are urging those who can to go ahead and cast early to help relieve the expected crush at the polls November 4th. The Secretary of State’s office says it hopes to have about a quarter of all eligible to vote to do so early. You can get more information by going to the Secretaty’s websitre: sos.georgia.gov

State jobs cut in Macon

Twenty-five state employees in Macon are losing their jobs. The Georgia Professional Licensing Boards are headquartered in Macon. The state agency oversees licensing for many professions like nursing, dentistry and accounting. The boards are staffed by 132 employees. Now nearly 20-percent of those workers are being let go. The Georgia Secretary of State's office oversees the boards and decided to make the cuts. They go into effect on November 1st. The changes were not supposed to go into effect until next year, but the Secretary of state's office decided to implement them early following the Governor's call for a 6-percent budget reduction by all state agencies.

Voter drive misinformation alleged

A national voting rights group accused some Georgia counties of violating national laws by giving out false information to organizers of voter drives. Now the Georgia Secretary of State’s office has stepped-in to ensure registration runs legally.

The group Advancement Project works to protect voting rights for people in low-income and minority communities. Brad Heard is senior attorney for the group. He says they’ve received complaints from organizers of drives in Georgia:

"The information suggested anything from the fact you had to get a deputy registrar assigned to your drive and permission for the drive. In another case, registrars were saying it was a felony to conduct a voter registration drive without permission".

That in fact is not true. Two years ago, a federal consent order struck down these restrictions.

A letter sent by the voter watchdog group to Georgia elections officials mentions a handful of counties that it says was providing misleading information. One was Ware County--its elections supervisor is Betty Gillis:

"We did get a letter from them, but we’re in compliance so we’re good".

Some erroneous information was supposedly on county elections websites. One county did admit to wrong information on its 'frequently asked questions' page, which has since been corrected.

With this being a presidential election year, groups like Advancement Project are pushing to remove real and perceived barriers. Heard says they want to get as many people signed up to vote:

"We don’t want to discourage that process by the misperception that registering these folks is going to be an onerous process so that you have to jump through so many hoops at the county level before you’re authorized to do it".

State elections officials say in a statement they have contacted the counties in question, and are sending clarification letters to all local elections officials in Georgia’s 159 counties.

Election Day: Polls run smoothly

An update on the polls this election day… Matt Carrothers at the Secretary of State office says everything is running smoothly. "We’ve received no reports of problems with lines or with photo id requirements or with voting in general," said Carrothers.

The Georgia Voting Rights Coalition confirms. They haven’t received any calls about problems, just questions about poll locations. The polls are open until seven this evening. Officials predict a thirty percent turnout.

Reminder: photo ID’s required in upcoming election

Voters taking part in the upcoming General Primary Election that begins Monday, July 7 and end Friday, July 11, 2008 must show one of the following six forms of photo ID:

• A Georgia driver’s license, even if expired;
• Any valid state or federal government issued photo ID, including a free Voter ID Card issued by your county registrar or Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS);
• Valid U.S. passport;
• Valid employee photo ID from any branch, department, agency, or entity of the U.S. Government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority, or other entity of this state;
• Valid U.S. military photo ID; or
• Valid tribal photo ID.

If a voter does not have one of these forms of photo identification, they can obtain a free voter ID card at their county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services, according to a statement issued by the Secretary of State’s Office.

Additional information about Georgia’s photo ID requirement is here:
www.GAPhotoID.com, or call toll free (877) 725-9797.

Contact information can be found on the 2008 Election Center website:
http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm.

Downloadable and printable absentee ballot request forms are here:
http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm.

Voters can find voter registration information, including polling locations and legislative districts, by visiting http://sos.georgia.gov/elections/ElectionCenter08.htm or by calling (888) 265-1115.

Voter registration up in Georgia

State elections officials say just over 210-thousand Georgians have been added to the voter-rolls. The Secretary of State’s office reports there has been a seven-percent jump in registration in the last year. Since the 2004 presidential election, that rise has been nine-percent. The big gains have been recorded among black and Hispanic voters.

Secretary of State opens Clayton County school board probe

Georgia’s Secretary of State’s Office is opening an investigation of the embattled Clayton County School Board. Some members are under fire for possible violations of Board policy, which is threatening the school system’s accreditation.

Secretary of State Karen Handel says investigators want to see if the county’s school board complied with local election laws, and specifically whether Board members reside in their districts as required by law.

The request for investigation was made by Governor Sonny Perdue. Handel says to have her office launch an investigation of this type certainly is rare.

"It certainly is unique under my time. I certainly have and share the concerns for the parents and the students in Clayton County. This is clearly an extraordinarily difficult and disturbing situation, and we want to be partners in helping to be supportive in getting this to some good conclusion".

Handel’s Inspector General is handling the probe. She expects a report on the matter within 30 days.

Polling problems reported

Heavy turnout and sporadic computer problems created long lines at some polling places in Georgia today. The campaign of Democrat Barack Obama said it is asking the state to keep at least one Atlanta precinct open late. At a precinct at one Atlanta residential building, voting was delayed when only one of five voting booths were working and election workers had to hand out 75 paper ballots. A campaign watchdog group said some computers being used to verify voter identifications as part of a new state law crashed earlier in the day. The Secretary of State's office said it dispatched staff and poll monitors to precincts that reported problems.

For all of today's GPB elections coverage, visit our elections blog at gpbelectionnews.blogspot.com.

Georgia primary turnout could top 30 percent

Georgia is among the two dozen states holding presidential primary voting in tomorrow’s Super Tuesday across the nation. Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel says she’s been told by county officials that they expect between 30-35 percent of the state’s registered voters to participate. If that holds true, the number would be roughly double the 17-percent of voters who turned out in 2004. Not since 1992 has Georgia seen voter turnout for a primary above 30-percent. That’s when Bill Clinton was the Democratic side winner--the elder George Bush the Republican.

Runoff elections Tuesday

Some Georgians will head to the polls next Tuesday. December 4th marks run-off elections for House District 127 and other county and municipal elections where candidates failed to receive a majority vote on November 6th. Secretary of State Karen Handel reminds voters to bring photo identification with them to the polls. For a list of approved ID’s, link to the Secretary of State’s website here.

Presidential primary ballot confirmed by Secretary of State

The ballot is now official for Georgia’s Presidential primary. Secretary of State Karen Handel says there are eight Democrats and nine Republicans in the running. Georgia will hold its Presidential Primary on February 5th, 2008. Voters who would like to participate in the primary must register to vote by January 7, 2008. If you would like to register to vote, please visit http://www.sos.georgia.gov/ .

In accordance with the list provided by the Democratic Party of Georgia, the following candidates will be listed on the Republican ballot in alphabetical order: Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, Alan Keyes, John McCain, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, and Fred Thompson.

In accordance with the list provided by the Republican Party of Georgia, the following candidates will be listed on the Republican ballot in alphabetical order: Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis J. Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson.

Fulton Co. could pay for losing voter registration cards

Hundreds of thousands of voter registration cards in Fulton County ended up in the trash. Now elections officials there could face penalties. County officials said the 93,000 records were inadvertently dumped when the county moved from one storage center to another. Secretary of State Karen Handel has asked the Attorney General’s office to advise her office on how and whether to hold Fulton County accountable.

Photo voter ID put to the test

State officials say all appears to have gone well with a first test of Georgia's photo voter ID law. Special elections were held yesterday in 23 counties with low turnout reported. The Secretary of State's office says over 35-hundred photo ID cards were issued to Georgians. A little over 500 cards were given out since a widespread effort began August 1st to let voters know of the new provision. A better test of the photo ID law should come in the February 5th presidential primary, when turnout is expected to be much higher.

Voter ID gets test in Georgia today

The voter ID law is being put to the test today in special elections across 22 Georgia counties. State officials have covered the gamut in getting the word out to Georgians. A quarter million letters were sent out, radio commercials were run, a special hotline and Web site were established, and special training was held for poll workers. The Secretary of State’s office reported that about 300 free photo ID’s had been given out as of the weekend. Voter turnout for elections today is expected to be very low. Issues on the ballots include special-option sales taxes, as well as various local races.

Perdue signs election laws

It's now official: Georgia voters will go to the polls on February 5, 2008 to select Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.

Gov. Sonny Perdue signed the law Tuesday making February 5 Georgia's primary election date. He says the earlier election will force presidential hopefuls to campaign harder and more often in Georgia.

He also says this could be the start of a national primary.

"I, for one, frankly have never felt that Iowa, nor New Hampshire, should be the determinants of who becomes the two nominees," Perdue says. "I think as the population moves to the South and Southwest, you’ll see more of these efforts."

Lawmakers in about two dozen other states also recently chose February fifth as their primary election date.

Perdue also signed a law making absentee voter fraud a felony. Until now, election fraud laws have focused on tightening photo identification requirements for voters who go to the polls. Those laws were struck down by the courts. They were also criticized, in part because almost all of the voter fraud cases in Georgia history have involved absentee ballots. There were no safeguards against that type of fraud in the laws.

Secretary of State Karen Handel, who was at the bill signing, says this new law addresses that problem.

"Any type of fraud is something we're not going to stand for here in Georgia," Handel says. "What this legislation does is make sure that penalties for absentee ballot fraud are consistent with in-person voter fraud."

People found guilty of absentee voter fraud could spend up to 10 years in prison, and pay up to $100,000 in fines.