O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 21-2-587 (2019)

Frauds by poll officers

✓ 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 poll officer who willfully: (1) Makes a false return of the votes cast at any primary or election; (2) Deposits fraudulent ballots in the ballot box or certifies as correct a false return of ballots; (3) Registers fraudulent votes upon any voting machine or certifies as correct a return of fraudulent votes cast upon any voting machine;

(4) Makes any false entries in the electors list; (5) Destroys or alters any ballot, voter’s certificate, or electors list; (6) Tampers with any voting machine, direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment, electronic ballot marker, or tabulating machine or device; (7) Prepares or files any false voter’s certificate not prepared by or for an elector actually voting at such primary or election; or (8) Fails to return to the officials prescribed by this chapter, following any primary or election, any keys of a voting machine; ballot box; general or duplicate return sheet; tally paper; oaths of poll officers; affidavits of electors and others; record of assisted voters; numbered list of voters; electors list; voter’s certificate; spoiled and canceled ballots; ballots deposited, written, or affixed in or upon a voting machine; DRE, electronic ballot marker, or tabulating machine memory cards; or any certificate or any other paper or record required to be returned under this chapter 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

Orig. Code 1863, § 1238; Code 1868, § 1319; Code 1873, § 1292; Code 1882, § 1292; Civil Code 1895, § 74; Civil Code 1910, § 84; Code 1933, § 34-1501; Code 1933, § 34-1921, 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, § 65; Ga. L. 2007, p. 536, § 11/SB 40; Ga. L. 2010, p. 914, § 33/HB 540; Ga. L. 2019, p. 7, § 49/HB 316.

Annotations

Cross references. Poll officers, § 21-2-90 et seq. Administrative rules and regulations. Spoiled ballot definition, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Election Code, Absentee Voting, § 183-1-14-.07. Law reviews. For article on the 2019 amendment of this Code section, see 36 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 81 (2019).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS Superintendent knowingly misstating votes. - If the number of votes was knowingly and falsely misstated by a superintendent of an election, the superintendent has failed to discharge a duty imposed by law, and the superintendent

was liable to be prosecuted under the provisions of the penal Code for a misdemeanor, although this section also applied. Black v. State, 36 Ga. App. 286, 136 S.E. 334, 1927 Ga. App. LEXIS 23 (1927).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. 26 Am. Jur. 2d, Elections, § 449. C.J.S. 29 C.J.S., Elections, §§ 568 et seq., 577 et seq.

ALR. Admissibility of parol evidence of election officials to impeach election returns, 46 A.L.R.2d 1385.

ELECTIONS & PRIMARIES