TITLE 21 ELECTIONS

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

ARTICLE 11 PREPARATION FOR AND CONDUCT OF PRIMARIES AND ELECTIONS

21-2-409. Assisting electors who cannot read English or who have disabilities.

1. No elector shall receive any assistance in voting at any primary or election unless he or she is unable to read the English language or he or she has a disability which renders him or her unable to see or mark the ballot or operate the voting equipment or to enter the voting compartment or booth without assistance. A person assisting an elector shall identify himself or herself to a poll worker who shall record such information on the disabled elector's voter certificate showing that such person provided assistance in voting to such elector.
2. 1. In elections in which there is a federal candidate on the ballot, any elector who is entitled to receive assistance in voting under this Code section shall be permitted by the managers to select any person of the elector's choice except such elector's employer or agent of that employer or officer or agent of such elector's union.
   2. In all other elections, any elector who is entitled to receive assistance in voting under this Code section shall be permitted by the managers to select:
      1. Any elector, except a poll officer or poll watcher, who is a resident of the precinct in which the elector requiring assistance is attempting to vote; or
      2. The mother, father, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, or attendant care provider of the elector entitled to receive assistance

         to enter the voting compartment or booth with him or her to assist in voting, such assistance to be rendered inside the voting compartment or booth. No person shall assist more than ten such electors in any primary, election, or runoff covered by this paragraph. No person whose name appears on the ballot as a candidate at a particular election nor the mother, father, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law of that candidate shall offer assistance during that particular election under the provisions of this Code section to any voter who is not related to such candidate. For the purposes of this paragraph, "related to such candidate" shall mean the candidate's mother, father, grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law.

(Ga. L. 1922, p. 97, § 4; Code 1933, § 34-1905; Code 1933, § 34-1317, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, Ex. Sess., p. 26, § 1; Ga. L. 1966, p. 185, § 1; Ga. L. 1968, p. 871, § 13; Ga. L. 1969, p. 285, § 4; Code 1933, § 34-1312, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1969, p. 308, § 18; Ga. L. 1981, p. 1718, § 6; Ga. L. 1982, p. 1512, § 5; Ga. L. 1983, p. 140, § 1; Ga. L. 1989, p. 911, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 53, § 1; Ga. L. 1996, p. 145, § 18; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 240, § 38; Ga. L. 2003, p. 517, § 45; Ga. L. 2004, p. 103, § 1; Ga. L. 2006, p. 888, § 6/HB 1435; Ga. L. 2008, p. 781, § 11/HB 1112.)

The 2006 amendment, effective January 1, 2007, in subsection (a), deleted "physical" preceding "disability" in the first sentence, substituted the present second sentence for the former second sentence, which read "The elector shall take an oath that shall be administered to him or her and placed in writing by a manager, giving the reason why the elector requires assistance.", and deleted the former last three sentences, which read "The printed name and the signature of such person assisting the elector shall be provided on the oath. An elector who declares that by reason of blindness he or she is unable to cast a vote as he or she wishes may receive assistance on the basis of the blind elector's declaration without the necessity of an oath. The printed name and the signature of such person assisting a blind elector shall be provided on the declaration."

The 2008 amendment, effective July 1, 2008, in paragraph (b)(1), substituted "such elector's" for "the elector's" twice; redesignated former subparagraphs (b)(2)(1) and (b)(2)(2) as subparagraphs (b)(2)(A) and (b)(2)(B), respectively; in subparagraph (b)(2)(B), substituted "grandparent, aunt, uncle, sister, brother, spouse, son, daughter, niece, nephew, grandchild, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, or attendant care provider" for "sister, brother, spouse, or child", and in the undesignated text, substituted "shall offer" for "may offer" in the second sentence; and deleted former subsection (c), which read: "The oaths or declarations of assisted electors shall be returned by the chief manager to the superintendent. The oaths or declarations of assisted electors shall be available in the superintendent's office for public inspection.".