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.
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.
