HB397: HB397 Elections; allow municipalities to opt in to providing advance voting on Saturdays for municipal elections

This bill, a Senate committee substitute for HB 397, touches many parts of Georgia's election code (Title 21, Chapter 2). It shifts the State Election Board's administrative attachment from the Secretary of State's office to the State Accounting Office starting July 1, 2025, and limits when new board rules can take effect close to an election. The bill lets a municipality's governing body vote to skip Saturday advance voting during a stand-alone municipal election that is not held alongside a county or state election. It also bars the Secretary of State and local election officials from joining multistate voter list-sharing groups that recruit unregistered voters or share data beyond removing ineligible voters, while allowing new state-to-state compacts for that purpose. It bans hand delivery of absentee ballots after advance voting ends, with limited exceptions, revises drop box rules, adds an election-night precinct reporting requirement, and lengthens notice periods before special primaries and elections. Most changes take effect July 1, 2025, with some sections delayed to 2026 or 2027.

• Moves the State Election Board's administrative attachment from the Secretary of State's office to the State Accounting Office, effective July 1, 2025.
• Lets a municipality's governing body vote at a public meeting to opt out of Saturday advance voting for a stand-alone municipal election not held with a county or state election.
• Delays the effective date of any State Election Board rule adopted within 60 days of a primary, election, or runoff until 30 days after that vote.
• Bars the Secretary of State and other state and local election officials from joining multistate voter list-sharing organizations that recruit unregistered voters or share data beyond removing ineligible voters, while allowing new interstate compacts for list maintenance.
• Prohibits hand delivery of absentee ballots after advance voting ends, except for ballots dropped off at election offices on the Monday before the election, on election day itself, mailed ballots, and military or overseas ballots.
• Requires election superintendents to post precinct-level unofficial vote totals by voting method on election night, with limited exceptions for provisional and uncounted ballots.

Municipal governments and their voters, county boards of registrars and absentee ballot clerks, the Secretary of State's office, the State Election Board, poll watchers, candidates in special elections and presidential races, and any local officials involved in voter list maintenance or drop box operations.

Georgians voting in stand-alone municipal elections could lose access to Saturday advance voting if their city opts out, while absentee voters statewide would face new limits on hand-delivering ballots. The bill also changes who oversees election rulemaking and how Georgia shares voter data with other states, affecting oversight and voter list accuracy.

• Section 2 moves the State Election Board's administrative attachment from the Secretary of State's office to the State Accounting Office as of July 1, 2025.
• Section 4 requires that any State Election Board rule adopted within 60 days of an election not take effect until 30 days after that election.
• Section 7 (effective July 1, 2027) authorizes the Secretary of State to join a nongovernmental voter-data-sharing entity under specific conditions and to enter voter list maintenance compacts with other states.
• Section 7 also bars state and local election officials from joining multistate voter list groups that recruit unregistered voters or share data beyond removing ineligible voters, with a 90-day deadline to withdraw from prohibited groups.
• Section 9 revises drop box placement and caps, limiting additional drop boxes to one per 100,000 active voters or the number of advance voting locations, whichever is fewer.
• Section 9 also bans accepting hand-delivered absentee ballots after advance voting ends, with exceptions for election-day drop-off, a designated Monday drop-off window, mail delivery, and overseas military ballots.
• Section 10 lets a municipality's governing body opt out of Saturday advance voting for a stand-alone municipal election not held concurrently with a county or state election.
• Section 12 creates a new Code section (21-2-493.1) requiring superintendents to post precinct-level, by-method vote totals on election night.

1. 2025-04-02Senate Passed/Adopted By Substitute (Senate)
2. 2025-04-02Senate Third Read (Senate)
3. 2025-04-02Senate Engrossed (Senate)
4. 2025-03-28Senate Read Second Time (Senate)
5. 2025-03-28Senate Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Senate)
6. 2025-03-10Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
7. 2025-03-06House Passed/Adopted By Substitute (House)
8. 2025-03-06House Third Readers (House)

• Tim Fleming (R, HD-114)Primary sponsor
• John LaHood (R, HD-175)
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
• Joseph Gullett (R, HD-019)
• Mitchell Scoggins (R, HD-014)
• David Clark (R, HD-100)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)

1. PassedHouse voteMarch 6, 2025

   159 yea, 13 nay (1 not voting, 7 absent)

   Passage: House Vote #266

2. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2025

   31 yea, 24 nay (0 not voting, 1 absent)

   Motion To Engross: Sb 214, Hb 66, Hb 79, Hb 129, Hb 134, Hb 141, Hb 370, Hb 397, Hb 445, Hb 463, Hb 532, Hb 586, Hb 652: Senate Vote #383

3. PassedSenate voteApril 2, 2025

   33 yea, 23 nay

   Passage By Substitute: Senate Vote #394

• election administration
• advance voting
• absentee ballots
• voter registration
• special elections