HB 40: Elections; Secretary of State shall serve as chairperson of the State Election Board; provide

Under current Georgia law, the State Election Board's chairperson is elected by the General Assembly through a joint resolution process, and that person must be nonpartisan, staying out of party politics and campaign contributions for two years before and during their service. This bill rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-2-30 to eliminate that election process entirely and instead name the Secretary of State as the board's chairperson by virtue of holding that office. The bill strikes the entire subsection describing how the General Assembly nominates and elects a chairperson, how the Governor fills a vacancy in that role, and the nonpartisanship rules that applied to the elected chairperson. It also changes the rule that forces a board member to give up their seat if they run for public office, exempting the Secretary of State from that requirement since the office itself now carries the chairmanship. A separate wording change removes the word 'voting' from the quorum requirement, so any three members, not just voting members, can constitute a quorum.

• Makes the Secretary of State the chairperson of the State Election Board automatically, instead of having the General Assembly elect a separate chairperson.
• Removes the entire process by which the General Assembly nominated and elected the chairperson through a joint resolution and confirmation votes in both chambers.
• Eliminates the nonpartisanship requirements that previously applied to the elected chairperson, including bans on party activity and campaign contributions.
• Removes the Governor's power to appoint an interim chairperson when a vacancy occurred while the General Assembly was out of session.
• Exempts the Secretary of State from the rule that removes a board member from their seat if they qualify as a candidate for public office.
• Changes the quorum rule so that three members generally, rather than three voting members specifically, are needed to conduct board business.

The Secretary of State's office, which gains an automatic seat and leadership role on the State Election Board; the General Assembly, which loses its role in electing the board's chairperson; and the other board members, including party-nominated members and legislatively elected electors, whose working relationship with board leadership would change.

The change would concentrate control over the state's election oversight board in one statewide elected official rather than a separate chairperson chosen through a legislative process with nonpartisanship rules. This affects who sets meeting agendas, oversees the board's staff, and directs its work on Georgia elections.

• Section 1 revises O.C.G.A. § 21-2-30(a) to name the Secretary of State as the board's chairperson instead of a chairperson elected by the General Assembly.
• Section 1 strikes former subsection (a.1) in its entirety, removing the joint resolution election process, nonpartisanship requirements, and the Governor's interim appointment power for the chairperson role.
• Section 1 amends subsection (f) so that the Secretary of State, unlike other board members, would not have to vacate their board seat if they qualify as a candidate for public office.
• Section 1 removes the word 'voting' from the quorum requirement in subsection (d), changing quorum from three voting members to three members generally.
• Section 2 repeals all conflicting laws.

1. 2025-01-16House Second Readers (House)
2. 2025-01-15House First Readers (House)
3. 2025-01-14House Hopper (House)

• Floyd Griffin (D, HD-149)Primary sponsor
• Saira Draper (D, HD-090)
• Billy Mitchell (D, HD-088)
• L.C. Myles (D, HD-126)
• Samuel Park (D, HD-107)

• election administration
• State Election Board
• Secretary of State
• election rules
• voting oversight