HB215: HB215 Voter List Integrity Act; enact

Georgia currently lets the Secretary of State join a nongovernmental group that shares voter registration data with other states to help keep voter lists accurate. This bill adds new definitions for "multistate voter list maintenance organization" and "voter list maintenance," and it bars the Secretary of State, other state agencies, and local boards of registrars or election superintendents from joining or staying in any multistate group that encourages registering unregistered voters or that shares voter data for reasons beyond removing dead, duplicate, or ineligible voters. Georgia would have to drop out of any such prohibited group within 90 days of the law taking effect. In place of those broader groups, the bill lets the Secretary of State sign narrower joint compacts directly with other states purely to maintain voter lists, and lets the Department of Driver Services share driver's license and ID data to support that work. Confidential voter information already received stays exempt from Georgia's open records law. The bill would take effect as soon as the Governor signs it or it otherwise becomes law.

• Adds legal definitions for "multistate voter list maintenance organization" and "voter list maintenance" to Georgia's election code (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-2).
• Prohibits the Secretary of State, other state agencies, and local boards of registrars or election superintendents from joining multistate groups that encourage contacting unregistered voters or that share data beyond removing ineligible voters.
• Requires Georgia to end participation in any prohibited multistate voter list group within 90 days of the law taking effect.
• Authorizes the Secretary of State to enter separate joint compacts with other states solely for voter list maintenance, with driver's license and ID data sharing to support that work.
• Keeps existing confidentiality protections for voter data already received from a nongovernmental list-sharing group, exempting it from Georgia's open records law (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70).

The Secretary of State's office, the Department of Driver Services, county boards of registrars, local election superintendents, and Georgia voters whose registration data and driver's license or ID information may be shared across states for list-maintenance purposes.

Georgia would have to leave any multistate voter data-sharing arrangement that does more than remove ineligible voters, such as ones that also promote registering new voters, and instead rely on narrower state-to-state deals focused only on list cleanup, changing how the state checks for voters who moved, died, or became ineligible.

• Section 2 defines "multistate voter list maintenance organization" and "voter list maintenance" in Georgia's election code.
• Section 3 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-2-225 to keep the existing confidentiality exemption for data from a nongovernmental voter-data group and to add new subsections banning participation in multistate groups with certain features.
• Section 3 requires termination of participation in a prohibited multistate group within 90 days of the effective date.
• Section 3 authorizes the Secretary of State to enter joint compacts with other states for voter list maintenance and allows the Department of Driver Services to share driver's license or ID data to support those compacts.
• Section 4 updates O.C.G.A. § 21-2-232 on removing voters who move to another state, including how information from a nongovernmental entity is used to send confirmation notices.
• Section 5 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it otherwise becomes law.
• Section 1 gives the Act the short title "Voter List Integrity Act."

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
2. 2025-02-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
3. 2025-02-04House Second Readers (House)
4. 2025-02-03House First Readers (House)
5. 2025-01-30House Hopper (House)

• Martin Momtahan (R, HD-017)Primary sponsor
• Tim Fleming (R, HD-114)
• Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
• Mandi Ballinger (R, HD-023)
• Rick Jasperse (R, HD-011)
• Joseph Gullett (R, HD-019)

• voter registration
• election administration
• voter list maintenance
• ERIC data sharing
• election law