TITLE 21 ELECTIONS

Section 2. Elections and Primaries Generally, 21-2-1 through 21-2-604.

ARTICLE 6 REGISTRATION OF VOTERS

21-2-231. Lists of persons convicted of felonies, persons identified as noncitizens, persons declared mentally incompetent, and deceased persons provided to Secretary of State and Council of Superior Court Clerks; removal of names from list of electors; obtain information about persons who died; timing; list of inactive voters provided to Council of Superior Court Clerks.

1. Unless otherwise notified by the Secretary of State, the Georgia Crime Information Center shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, prepare and transmit to the Secretary of State and The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia a complete list of all persons, including dates of birth, social security numbers, and other information as prescribed by the Secretary of State or The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia, who were convicted of a felony in this state since the preceding reporting period. The Secretary of State or The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia may, by agreement with the commissioner of corrections and the commissioner of community supervision, obtain criminal information relating to the conviction, sentencing, and completion of sentencing requirements of felonies. Additionally, the Secretary of State and The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia shall be authorized to obtain such criminal information relating to Georgia electors convicted of a felony in another state, if such information is available.
2. The judge of the probate court of each county shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, prepare and transmit to the Secretary of State, in a format prescribed by the Secretary of State, a complete list of all persons, including addresses, ages, and other identifying information as prescribed by the Secretary of State, who were declared mentally incompetent during the preceding calendar month in the county and whose voting rights were removed.
3. Upon receipt of the lists described in subsections (a), (a.1), and (b) of this Code section and the lists of persons convicted of felonies in federal courts received pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Section 1973gg-6(g), the Secretary of State shall transmit the names of such persons whose names appear on the list of electors to the appropriate county board of registrars who shall remove all such names from the list of electors and shall mail a notice of such action and the reason therefor to the last known address of such persons by first-class mail.
4. Unless otherwise notified by the Secretary of State, the local registrar of vital statistics of each county shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, prepare and transmit to the Secretary of State, in a format prescribed by the Secretary of State, a complete list of all persons, including addresses, ages, and other identifying information as prescribed by the Secretary of State, who died during the preceding calendar month in the county. The Secretary of State may, by agreement with the commissioner of public health, obtain such information from the state registrar of vital statistics. Additionally, the Secretary of State is authorized to obtain such lists of deceased Georgia electors, if possible, from other states.
5. Upon receipt of the lists described in subsection (d) of this Code section, the Secretary of State or his or her designated agent shall remove all such names of deceased persons from the list of electors and shall notify the registrar in the county where the deceased person was domiciled at the time of his or her death.
6. County registrars shall initiate appropriate action regarding the right of an elector to remain on the list of qualified registered voters within 60 days after receipt of the information described in this Code section. Failure to take such action may subject the registrars or the county governing authority for whom the registrars are acting to a fine by the State Election Board.
7. The Secretary of State shall provide to The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia not later than the last day of each month all information enumerated in subsections (b) through (d) of this Code section and Code Section 21-2-232 and a list of voters who have failed to vote and inactive voters, as identified pursuant to Code Sections 21-2-234 and 21-2-235. Such data shall only be used by the council, the council's vendors, superior court clerks, and jury clerks for maintenance of state-wide master jury lists and county master jury lists. Such data shall be provided to the council or its vendors in the electronic format required by the council for such purposes.

(a.1)The clerk of the superior court of each county shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, prepare and transmit to the Secretary of State, in a format prescribed by the Secretary of State, a complete list of all persons, including addresses, ages, and other identifying information as prescribed by the Secretary of State, who identify themselves as not being citizens of the United States during their qualification to serve as a juror during the preceding calendar month in that county.

(e.1)County registrars may obtain information about persons who died from obituaries published by local newspapers, death certificates, verifiable knowledge of the death, and information provided in writing and signed by a family member or members of the deceased person. County registrars shall determine if such deceased person's name appears on the list of electors and, if so, shall remove such name from the list of electors and shall send by first class mail to the mailing address shown on the elector's voter registration records a notice of such action and the reason therefor.

(Code 1981, §21-2-231, enacted by Ga. L. 1994, p. 1443, § 3; Ga. L. 1996, p. 145, § 9; Ga. L. 1997, p. 590, § 26; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 1231, §§ 7, 31; Ga. L. 1999, p. 52, § 10; Ga. L. 2001, p. 269, § 14; Ga. L. 2005, p. 253, § 28/HB 244; Ga. L. 2008, p. 781, § 9/HB 1112; Ga. L. 2009, p. 327, § 1/HB 549; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 1-6/HB 228; Ga. L. 2011, p. 59, § 1-65/HB 415; Ga. L. 2011, p. 705, § 6-5/HB 214; Ga. L. 2012, p. 995, § 19/SB 92; Ga. L. 2014, p. 451, § 9/HB 776; Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 5-52/HB 310.)

The 2008 amendment, effective July 1, 2008, in subsection (a), in the first sentence, substituted "Unless otherwise notified by the Secretary of State, the" for "The" at the beginning and substituted "that county" for "the county" at the end, and added the last two sentences; and, at the end of the first sentence in subsection (d), substituted "Unless otherwise notified by the Secretary of State, the" for "The".

The 2009 amendments. The first 2009 amendment, effective January 1, 2010, added subsection (a.1) and inserted ", (a.1)," near the beginning of subsection (c). The second 2009 amendment, effective July 1, 2009, substituted "commissioner of community health" for "commissioner of human resources" in the second sentence of subsection (d).

The 2011 amendments. The first 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, substituted the present provisions of subsection (a) for the former provisions, which read: "Unless otherwise notified by the Secretary of State, the clerk of the superior court of each county shall, on or before the tenth day of each month, prepare and transmit to the Secretary of State, in a format as prescribed by the Secretary of State, a complete list of all persons, including addresses, ages, and other identifying information as prescribed by the Secretary of State, who were convicted of a felony involving moral turpitude during the preceding calendar month in that county. The Secretary of State may, by agreement with the commissioner of the Department of Corrections, obtain criminal information relating to the conviction, sentencing, and completion of sentencing requirements of felonies involving moral turpitude. Additionally, the Secretary of State shall be authorized to obtain such criminal information relating to Georgia electors convicted of felonies involving moral turpitude, if possible, from other states."; substituted "format prescribed by the Secretary of State" for "format as prescribed by the Secretary of State" near the middle of subsection (b) and near the middle of the first sentence of subsection (d); and added subsection (g). The second 2011 amendment, effective July 1, 2011, substituted "commissioner of public health" for "commissioner of community health" in the second sentence of subsection (d).

The 2012 amendment, effective July 1, 2012, added subsection (e.1).

The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, in subsection (a), inserted "and The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia" in the first and third sentences and inserted "or The Council of Superior Court Clerks of Georgia" in the first and second sentences; and, in subsection (g), in the first sentence, substituted "The Council" for "the Council" and substituted "subsections (b) through (d)" for "subsections (a) through (d)", and, in the second sentence, substituted "superior court clerks, and jury clerks" for "and county boards of jury commissioners".

The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, inserted "and the commissioner of community supervision" in the second sentence in subsection (a). See Editor's notes for applicability.