HB502: HB502 Elections; preferential treatment during advance voting for voters accompanied by children two years of age or younger; provide

Georgia law already lets voters age 75 or older, and disabled voters who need assistance and for whom waiting in line would be impracticable, go to the head of the line or move straight to an open voting machine, both during advance voting and during set hours on election day. This bill adds a new category to that same privilege: any voter accompanied by one or more children two years of age or younger. Section 1 revises the advance voting rule (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-385.1) so those voters can go straight to an open voting booth or to the head of the line for a paper absentee ballot. Section 2 makes the matching change for election day (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-409.1), covering the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Section 3 repeals any conflicting laws. The bill does not state a separate effective date, so it would take effect under Georgia's standard rules once signed.

• Adds voters accompanied by a child age two or younger to the group that can skip ahead during advance voting without waiting in line, alongside voters 75 and older and disabled voters needing assistance.
• Makes the same change for election day voting between 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., letting those voters move straight to an open voting machine or the front of the line.
• Requires poll officers and election office staff to grant this priority upon the voter's request rather than automatically.
• Keeps the existing requirement that notice of these priority-voting rules be prominently posted at registrar's offices, absentee ballot clerk's offices, and voting places.

Georgia voters who bring a child age two or younger with them to vote, whether during advance voting or on election day, along with poll workers, county registrars, and absentee ballot clerks who must apply the priority rule and post notice of it.

Parents and caregivers with young children would be able to avoid long waits at the polls or advance voting sites, similar to the existing accommodation for elderly and disabled voters. Election officials would need to recognize and apply this new category alongside the categories they already handle.

• Section 1 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-2-385.1 to add voters accompanied by a child two or younger to those who may go directly to an open voting booth or the head of the line during advance voting.
• Section 1 keeps the existing condition that this applies only where standing in line would be impracticable and requires a request to an office employee.
• Section 2 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-2-409.1 to extend the same priority to election day voting during the hours of 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• Section 2 requires the voter to make the request to a poll officer to receive the priority.
• Section 3 repeals any state laws that conflict with these changes.

1. 2026-02-19House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
2. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (House)
3. 2025-03-06House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (House)
4. 2025-02-20House Second Readers (House)
5. 2025-02-19House First Readers (House)
6. 2025-02-18House Hopper (House)

• Saira Draper (D, HD-090)Primary sponsor
• John LaHood (R, HD-175)
• Tim Fleming (R, HD-114)
• Beth Camp (R, HD-135)
• Rob Leverett (R, HD-123)
• Joseph Gullett (R, HD-019)

• election rules
• advance voting
• voter accommodations
• parents and young children