O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417.1 (2019)

Voter identification card

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.

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(a) Each county board of registrars shall provide at least one place in the county at which it shall accept applications for and issue Georgia voter identification cards to registered Georgia electors which shall under state law be valid only for purposes of voter identification under Code Section 21-2-417 and available only to registered electors of this state. No fee shall be charged or collected for the application for or issuance of a Georgia voter identification card. (b) No person shall be eligible for a Georgia voter identification card if such person has a valid unexpired driver’s license or identification card issued under Code Section 40-5-100. (c) The Georgia voter identification card shall be captioned “GEORGIA VOTER IDENTIFICATION CARD” and shall contain a prominent statement that under Georgia law it is valid only as identification for voting purposes. The Georgia voter identification card shall be laminated, shall contain a digital color photograph of the applicant, and shall include the following information: (1) Full legal name; (2) Address of residence;

ELECTIONS & PRIMARIES

(3) Birth date; (4) Date identification card was issued; (5) Sex; (6) Height; (7) Weight; (8) Eye color; (9) County where the identification card was issued including a county number to be assigned for each county by the Secretary of State; and (10) Such other information or identification as required by rule of the State Election Board. (d) The application for a Georgia voter identification card shall elicit the information required under subsection (c) of this Code section and such other information as may be required by rule of the State Election Board. The application shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant and any falsification or fraud in the making of the application shall constitute a felony offense under Code Section 16-10-71, relating to the offense of false swearing. (e) The board of registrars shall require presentation and verification of the following information before issuing a Georgia voter identification card to a person: (1) A photo identity document, except that a nonphoto identity document is acceptable if it includes both the person’s full legal name and date of birth; (2) Documentation showing the person’s date of birth; (3) Evidence that the person is registered to vote in this state; and (4) Documentation showing the person’s name and address of principal residence. (f) A Georgia voter identification card shall remain valid so long as a person resides in the same county and remains qualified to vote. It shall be the duty of a person who moves his or her residence within the State of Georgia outside of the county in which it was issued to surrender his or her card to the board of registrars of the county of his or her new residence; and such person may after such surrender apply for and receive a new card if such person is otherwise eligible under this Code section. It shall be the duty of a person who moves his or her residence outside the State of Georgia or who ceases to be qualified to vote to surrender his or her card to the board of registrars by which it was issued.

(g) The Secretary of State shall provide each county board of registrars with the necessary equipment, forms, supplies, and training for the production of the Georgia voter identification cards and shall maintain such equipment. (h) Without in any way limiting the authority of the Secretary of State under subsection (g) of this Code section, the State Election Board shall adopt rules and regulations for the administration of this Code section and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, such rules and regulations may further define or prescribe the types of documentation required under subsection (e) of this Code section.

History

Code 1981, § 21-2-417.1, enacted by Ga. L. 2006, p. 3, § 2/SB 84; Ga. L. 2008, p. 781, § 13/HB 1112; Ga. L. 2019, p. 7, § 36/HB 316. Administrative rules and regulations. Georgia Voter Identification Card, Offi-

cial Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Election Code, Georgia Voter Identification Card, § 183-1-20-.01.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Equal protection. - Court enjoined the enforcement of the photo identification requirement of the 2006 Photo ID Act, codified at O.C.G.A. §§ 21-2-417, 21-2417.1, and 40-5-103(d), because the requirement unduly burdened the right to vote in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause, at least with respect to the July 18, 2006, primary elections and the corresponding primary run-off elections; the nonprofit organizations and their constituents would have suffered irreparable harm if the court did not grant a preliminary injunction with respect to those elections and, considering

the right at issue and the likely injury caused by not entering a preliminary injunction, the threatened harm to the nonprofit organizations outweighed the potential injury to the state and various election officials. Finally, entering a preliminary injunction for the elections at issue served the public interest by preserving voting rights. Common Cause/ Georgia v. Billups, 439 F. Supp. 2d 1294, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 56100 (N.D. Ga. 2006), dismissed, 504 F. Supp. 2d 1333, 2007 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68950 (N.D. Ga. 2007).

RESEARCH REFERENCES C.J.S. 29 C.J.S., Elections, §§ 60, 70. ALR. Voter identification requirements as de-

nying or abridging right to vote on account of race or color under § 2 of Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C.A. § 10301, 12 A.L.R. Fed. 3d 4.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 6 cases, 2006–2016 · leading case: Common Cause/Georgia, League of Women Voters of Georgia, Inc. v. Billups, 439 F. Supp. 2d 1294 (N.D. Ga. 2006).

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Common Cause/Georgia, League of Women Voters of Georgia, Inc. v. Billups, 439 F. Supp. 2d 1294 (N.D. Ga. 2006). · cites it 22× “) The 2006 Photo ID Act repealed the 2005 Photo ID Amendment, replacing it with identical Photo ID requirements for in-person voting and a new code section, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417.1, which requires the Board of Elections in each county to issue a “Georgia voter identification card”…”

Common Cause/Georgia v. Billups, 504 F. Supp. 2d 1333 (N.D. Ga. 2007). · cites it 26× “The 2006 Photo ID Act repealed the 2005 Photo ID Amendment, replacing it with identical Photo ID requirements for in-person voting and a new code section, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417.1, which requires the Board of Elections in each county to issue a “Georgia voter identification card”…”

Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc. v. Perdue, 707 S.E.2d 67 (Ga. 2011). · cites it 16× “During the pendency of that appeal, the Georgia General Assembly repealed the 2005 Act and passed the 2006 Act with identical photo ID requirements for in-person voting and a new Code section, OCGA § 21-2-417.1, which requires the board of registrars in each county to issue a…”

Perdue v. Lake, 647 S.E.2d 6 (Ga. 2007). · cites it 2× “OCGA§ 21-2-417 (a) (2) indicates that proper photo identification includes a valid Georgia voter identification card issued under Code Section 21-2-417.1 or other valid identification card issued *350 by a branch, department, agency, or entity of the State of Georgia, any other…”

State of Texas v. Holder, 888 F. Supp. 2d 113 (D.D.C. 2012). · cites it 2× “” Ga. Code Ann. § 21-2-417.1 (a). Similarly, every Indiana county has a BMV office that is required by law to disperse “free” photo IDs.”

Greater Birmingham Ministries v. Alabama, 161 F. Supp. 3d 1104 (N.D. Ala. 2016). “Code § 17-9-30 (f); O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417.1; Ind. Code § 9-24-16-10 ; Wis.”

— 21-2-417.1(a) — 1 case

Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc. v. Perdue, 707 S.E.2d 67 (Ga. 2011). “During the pendency of that appeal, the Georgia General Assembly repealed the 2005 Act and passed the 2006 Act with identical photo ID requirements for in-person voting and a new Code section, OCGA § 21-2-417.1, which requires the board of registrars in each county to issue a…”

— 21-2-417.1(e) — 2 cases

Common Cause/Georgia, League of Women Voters of Georgia, Inc. v. Billups, 439 F. Supp. 2d 1294 (N.D. Ga. 2006). “) The 2006 Photo ID Act repealed the 2005 Photo ID Amendment, replacing it with identical Photo ID requirements for in-person voting and a new code section, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417.1, which requires the Board of Elections in each county to issue a “Georgia voter identification card”…”

Common Cause/Georgia v. Billups, 504 F. Supp. 2d 1333 (N.D. Ga. 2007). “The 2006 Photo ID Act repealed the 2005 Photo ID Amendment, replacing it with identical Photo ID requirements for in-person voting and a new code section, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-417.1, which requires the Board of Elections in each county to issue a “Georgia voter identification card”…”

— 21-2-417.1(e)(1) — 2 cases

— 21-2-417.1(e)(2) — 2 cases

— 21-2-417.1(e)(3) — 1 case

— 21-2-417.1(e)(4) — 2 cases

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.