O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 21-2-566 (2019)

Interference with primaries and elections generally

✓ 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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Any person who: (1) Willfully prevents or attempts to prevent any poll officer from holding any primary or election under this chapter; (2) Uses or threatens violence in a manner that would prevent a reasonable poll officer or actually prevents a poll officer from the execution of his or her duties or materially interrupts or improperly and materially interferes with the execution of a poll officer’s duties; (3) Willfully blocks or attempts to block the avenue to the door of any polling place; (4) Uses or threatens violence in a manner that would prevent a

ELECTIONS & PRIMARIES

reasonable elector from voting or actually prevents any elector from voting; (5) Willfully prepares or presents to any poll officer a fraudulent voter’s certificate not signed by the elector whose certificate it purports to be; (6) Knowingly deposits fraudulent ballots in the ballot box; (7) Knowingly registers fraudulent votes upon any voting machine; or (8) Willfully tampers with any electors list, voter’s certificate, numbered list of voters, ballot box, voting machine, direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment, electronic ballot marker, or tabulating machine shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years or to pay a fine not to exceed $100,000.00, or both.

History

Code 1933, § 34-1924, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, Ex. Sess., p. 26, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 206, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1; Ga. L. 2003, p. 517, § 61; Ga. L. 2007, p. 536, § 5/SB 40; Ga. L. 2008, p. 781, § 16/HB 1112; Ga. L. 2019, p. 7, § 44/HB 316.

Annotations

Code Commission notes. Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in

2019, a period was deleted at the end of paragraph (8). Law reviews. For article on the 2019 amendment of this Code section, see 36 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 81 (2019).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Editor’s notes. - In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Penal Code 1910, § 660 are included in the annotations for this Code section. Primary elections content of section 660, subsection 6, Penal Code 1910, which provided that any person who shall deposit a ballot at any election in any name

other than that person’s own name, as it appears on the list of registered voters prescribed by law, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. George v. State, 18 Ga. App. 753, 90 S.E. 493, 1916 Ga. App. LEXIS 1242 (1916); Mark v. State, 18 Ga. App. 754, 90 S.E. 493, 1916 Ga. App. LEXIS 1243 (1916) (decided under former Penal Code 1910, § 660).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 26 Am. Jur. 2d, Elections, § 454.

C.J.S. 29 C.J.S., Elections, §§ 568, 572, 575 et seq.