Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signs election law overhauls. Here’s what has changed since 2020
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed into law a handful of eleventh-hour changes to state election administration last week, amounting to more than a dozen new provisions ahead of the November general election.
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Though some of these dramatic changes could see legal challenges, here's a list of the top-line changes that voters could see in six months' time:
Creates a new process for how counties can remove people's voter registrations from the rolls, including if a person has a tax exemption suggesting a primary residence in another district, or a nonresidential address in a different district.
Requires voters experiencing homelessness to register at their county elections office in order to vote.
Allows voters to be removed from voter registration lists up to 45 days before an election.
The Peach State previously passed a slate of new election laws in 2021. Some of the changes to have already taken effect include:
A Georgia state driver's license number, ID card number, date of birth, and the last four digits of a social security number or another approved form of identification must be printed on an absentee ballot.
Created a cutoff date of 11 days before primary, general or runoff elections for mail-in ballot applications.
A ban on bringing food or gifts to people waiting to vote.
Restricted ballot drop boxes to one per 100,000 active registered voters in a county and used only in advanced voting.
The legislature moved control over leading the state election board from the secretary of state to the legislature and allowed average citizens to file unlimited numbers of challenges to people's voter registrations.
More: Georgia voting law explained: Here's what to know about the state's new election rules
These latest Georgia election law changes add to a growing list of legislation passed in dozens of states that could impede voter access and affect the ability of local officials to administer elections. The nonpartisan group Voting Rights Lab, which tracks election law nationwide, said in an April report that 29 states have passed 79 new laws containing "election interference provisions," like those seen in Georgia, over the past three years.
"Georgia and North Carolina – two of the states likely to determine the results of the presidential election this November – have been at the forefront of new election manipulation laws," the report said.
This year will be the first time these laws will be in place during a presidential election. For Georgia, it amounts to several visible changes to ballots and the voting process.
USA Today Democracy Reporter Erin Mansfield contributed to this report.
Kathryn Palmer is an Elections Fellow for USA TODAY. Reach her at kapalmer@gannett.com and follow her on X @KathrynPlmr.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Gov. Brian Kemp signs Georgia election law changes
