HB509: HB509 Oath Act; enact

Georgia law already disqualifies people legally defined as 'subversive persons' from being nominated or elected to office. This bill adds a second disqualification tied to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, known as the Insurrection Clause, which bars officials who took an oath to support the Constitution and then engaged in insurrection or rebellion, unless Congress removes that disability. The bill also bars from office anyone who, after the law takes effect, participates in or certifies presidential elector selection or vote casting in violation of Georgia election law or federal law (3 U.S.C. Chapter 1). Election superintendents, political parties, and political bodies would be prohibited from qualifying or listing such disqualified people on any ballot. It also amends Georgia's vacation-of-office law (O.C.G.A. § 45-5-1) to add these same two grounds, insurrection-clause disqualification and subversive-person activity, as reasons a Georgia office is automatically vacated.

• Amends Georgia election law (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-7) to bar anyone disqualified under the Fourteenth Amendment's Insurrection Clause from being nominated or elected to Georgia office.
• Bars people who unlawfully participate in or certify presidential elector selection or vote casting from being nominated or elected, once the provision takes effect.
• Prohibits election superintendents, political parties, and political bodies from qualifying or listing disqualified people on any ballot.
• Amends Georgia's vacation-of-office law (O.C.G.A. § 45-5-1) to add Fourteenth Amendment insurrection disqualification as a ground for automatically vacating a state office.
• Adds engaging in activities that could make someone a 'subversive person' under O.C.G.A. § 16-11-6 as another automatic ground for vacating office.
• States legislative findings that Georgia ratified the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868 and that state enforcement legislation for the Insurrection Clause is necessary.

Candidates for state and federal office in Georgia, current officeholders, election superintendents, political parties, and political bodies that qualify or list candidates on ballots, as well as anyone involved in selecting, certifying, or casting presidential elector votes.

If enacted, Georgia election officials and parties would have to screen out candidates found to be disqualified under the Insurrection Clause or found to have unlawfully tampered with presidential elector processes, and current officeholders could lose their seats automatically under the same grounds.

• Section 2 states legislative findings quoting the Fourteenth Amendment's Insurrection Clause and Georgia's 1868 ratification of the amendment.
• Section 3 revises O.C.G.A. § 21-2-7 to add a new subsection (b) disqualifying oath-breaking insurrectionists from Georgia federal or state office unless Congress removes the disability.
• Section 3 adds subsection (c) barring election superintendents, parties, and political bodies from qualifying or ballot-listing disqualified persons.
• Section 3 adds subsection (d), effective after the bill's effective date, disqualifying anyone who unlawfully participates in or certifies presidential elector selection or vote casting under state or federal law.
• Section 4 revises O.C.G.A. § 45-5-1 to add two new automatic vacancy triggers: Fourteenth Amendment insurrection disqualification and subversive-person activity.
• Section 5 repeals conflicting laws.

1. 2025-02-21House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-02-20House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-02-19House Hopper (House)

• Derrick Jackson (D, HD-068)Primary sponsor
• Lydia Glaize (D, HD-067)
• Kim Schofield (D, HD-063)
• Viola Davis (D, HD-087)

• election law
• ballot qualification
• Fourteenth Amendment
• presidential electors
• vacation of office