The House Committee on Governmental Affairs offers the following substitute to HB 215:
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
To amend Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
elections and primaries generally, so as to remove authorization for the Secretary of State to
become a member of a nongovernmental entity whose purpose is to share and exchange
information in order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of voter registration systems; to
provide for definitions; to maintain an exemption to the disclosure of certain documents; to
prohibit the Secretary of State, other state level actors, and local boards of registrars and
election superintendents from participating in certain multistate voter list maintenance
organizations; to require the termination of participation in any prohibited multistate voter
list maintenance organizations; to authorize the Secretary of State to enter into voter list
maintenance joint compacts with other states; to authorize the sharing of driver's license and
identification card information; to provide conditions for entering such compacts; to make
conforming changes; to provide for related matters; to provide for a short title; to provide for
an effective date; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION 1.
This Act shall be known and may be cited as the "Voter List Integrity Act."
SECTION 2.
Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections and
primaries generally, is amended by revising Code Section 21-2-2, relating to definitions, by
adding new paragraphs to read as follows:
<ins>"(11.1) 'Multistate voter list maintenance organization' means any entity, organization,
consortium, or cooperative agreement among states or jurisdictions that involves the
sharing of voter registration data for the purpose of voter list maintenance."
"(39.1) 'Voter list maintenance' means the process of ensuring the accuracy and currency
of voter registration lists, including, but not limited to, removing ineligible voters and
updating records."
</ins> SECTION 3.
Said chapter is further amended by revising Code Section 21-2-225, relating to restrictions
on public inspection of applications for voter registration and data on electors, and
membership of Secretary of State in nongovernmental entity for purpose of improving voter
registration systems, as follows:
"21-2-225.
(a) Neither the original applications for voter registration nor any copies thereof shall be
open for public inspection except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(b) Except as provided in Code Section 21-2-225.1, all data collected and maintained on
electors whose names appear on the list of electors maintained by the Secretary of State
pursuant to this article shall be available for public inspection with the exception of bank
statements submitted pursuant to subsection (c) of Code Section 21-2-220 and
subsection (c) of Code Section 21-2-417, the month and day of birth, the social security
numbers, email addresses, and driver's license numbers of the electors, and the locations
at which the electors applied to register to vote, which shall remain confidential and shall
be used only for voter registration purposes; provided, however, that any and all
information relating to the dates of birth, social security numbers, and driver's license
numbers of electors may be made available to other agencies of this state, to agencies of
other states and territories of the United States, and to agencies of the federal government
if the agency is authorized to maintain such information and the information is used only
to identify the elector on the receiving agency's data base and is not disseminated further
and remains confidential. Information regarding an elector's year of birth shall be available
for public inspection.
(c) It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State to furnish copies of such data as may be
collected and maintained on electors whose names appear on the list of electors maintained
by the Secretary of State pursuant to this article, within the limitations provided in this
article, on electronic media or computer run list or both. Notwithstanding any other
provision of law to the contrary, the Secretary of State shall establish the cost to be charged
for such data. The Secretary of State may contract with private vendors to make such data
available in accordance with this subsection. Such data may not be used by any person for
commercial purposes.
(d)(1) <del>The Secretary of State may become a member of a nongovernmental entity whose
purpose is to share and exchange information in order to improve the accuracy and
efficiency of voter registration systems. The membership of the nongovernmental entity
shall be composed solely of election officials of state and territorial governments of the
United States, except that such membership may also include election officials of the
District of Columbia.
(2) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the Secretary of State may
share confidential and exempt information after becoming a member of such
nongovernmental entity as provided in paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(3) The Secretary of State may become a member of such nongovernmental entity only
if such entity is controlled and operated by the participating jurisdictions. The entity shall
not be operated or controlled by the federal government or any other entity acting on
</del>
<del>behalf of the federal government. The Secretary of State must be able to withdraw at any
time from any such membership in such nongovernmental entity.
(4) If the Secretary of State becomes a member of such nongovernmental entity, the
Department of Driver Services shall, pursuant to an agreement with the Secretary of
State, provide driver's license or identification card information related to voter eligibility
to the Secretary of State for the purpose of sharing and exchanging voter registration
information with such nongovernmental entity.
(5)</del> Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, <del>upon the Secretary of State becoming a
member of a nongovernmental entity as provided in this subsection,</del> <ins>any</ins> information
received by the Secretary of State <ins>prior to the effective date of this subsection</ins> from <del>the
</del> <ins>a</ins> nongovernmental entity <ins>whose purpose was to share and exchange information in order
to improve the accuracy and efficiency of voter registration systems</ins> is exempt from
disclosure under Article 4 of Chapter 18 of Title 50, <ins>relating to open records,</ins> and any
other provision of law. <del>However, the Secretary of State may provide such information
to the boards of registrars to conduct voter registration list maintenance activities.
</del> <ins>(e)(1) The Secretary of State or any other state department, agency, board, bureau, office,
commission, public corporation, or authority or any board of registrars or election
superintendent shall be prohibited from joining or participating in any multistate voter list
maintenance organization that:
(A) Requires or encourages the contacting of individuals who are not currently
registered to vote with the intent to register them to vote; or
(B) Shares voter data outside of the explicit purpose of removing deceased, duplicate,
or otherwise ineligible voters from the list of electors.
(2) The Secretary of State or any other state department, agency, board, bureau, office,
commission, public corporation, or authority or any board of registrars or election
superintendent shall terminate participation in any multistate voter list maintenance
</ins>
<ins>organization prohibited by paragraph (1) of this subsection within 90 days of the effective
date of this subsection.
(f)(1) In order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of the voter registration system,
the Secretary of State shall be authorized to enter into joint compacts with the chief
election official of any other state or states for the purpose of sharing information for
voter list maintenance.
(2) Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, the Secretary of State may
share confidential and exempt information after becoming a member of such voter list
maintenance joint compact.
(3) If the Secretary of State becomes a member of such voter list maintenance joint
compact, the Department of Driver Services shall, pursuant to an agreement with the
Secretary of State, provide driver's license or identification card information related to
voter eligibility to the Secretary of State for the purpose of sharing and exchanging voter
registration information with the other state or states participating in such compact.
(4) The Secretary of State must be able to withdraw from any such joint compact at any
time."
</ins> SECTION 4.
Said chapter is further amended by revising subsection (b) of Code Section 21-2-232, relating
to removal of elector's name from list of electors, as follows:
"(b)(1) When an elector of this state moves to another state and registers to vote and the
registration officials in such state send a notice of cancellation reflecting the registration
of the elector in the other state, which includes a copy of such elector's voter registration
application bearing the elector's signature, the Secretary of State or the board of
registrars, as the case may be, shall remove such elector's name from the list of electors.
It shall not be necessary to send a confirmation notice to the elector in such
circumstances.
(2) When an elector of this state moves to another state and the registration officials in
such other state <del>or a nongovernmental entity as described in subsection (d) of Code
Section 21-2-225</del> send a notice of cancellation or other information indicating that the
elector has moved to such state but such notice or information does not include a copy
of such elector's voter registration application in such other state bearing the elector's
signature, the Secretary of State or the board of registrars, as the case may be, shall send
a confirmation notice to the elector as provided in Code Section 21-2-234.
<del>(3) Once becoming a member of the nongovernmental entity described in subsection (d)
of Code Section 21-2-225, the Secretary of State shall obtain regular information from
such entity regarding electors who may have moved to another state, died, or otherwise
become ineligible to vote in Georgia. The Secretary of State shall use such information
to conduct list maintenance on the list of eligible electors."
</del> SECTION 5.
This Act shall become effective upon its approval by the Governor or upon its becoming law
without such approval.
SECTION 6.
All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.