--- title: SB 516. Elections and Primaries; Secretary of State to establish a grant program to assist counties with offsetting half of the cost associated with special elections; provide collection: bills id: 2025-2026/sb516 cite_as: SB 516, 2025-2026 Regular Session (Ga.) canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb516 md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb516.md text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb516/text source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73270 date: 2026-02-18 status: introduced corpus_version: bills-2026-09-13 license: Public record of the Georgia General Assembly, via LegiScan; see about.md publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice. up: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026.md previous: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb515.md next: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb517.md index: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/index.md omitted: votes and history omitted_chars: 95 omitted_url: https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb516.md?full=1 bill_number: SB 516 session: 2025-2026 Regular Session session_slug: 2025-2026 chamber: Senate bill_type: bill status_date: 2026-02-17 last_action: Senate Read and Referred sponsors: - Jaha Howard - Nan Orrock - RaShaun Kemp - Tonya Anderson - Kenya Wicks - Nabilah Islam Parkes - Sheikh Rahman text_version: Introduced has_text: true legiscan_url: https://legiscan.com/GA/bill/SB516/2025 upstream_id: 2118566 summaries_model: claude-sonnet-5 topic_tags: - special elections - county government funding - election costs - Secretary of State --- # SB 516. Elections and Primaries; Secretary of State to establish a grant program to assist counties with offsetting half of the cost associated with special elections; provide ## Text Senate Bill 516 By: Senators Howard of the 35th, Orrock of the 36th, Kemp of the 38th, Anderson of the 43rd, Wicks of the 34th and others 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 provide for the Secretary of State to establish a grant program, subject to appropriations, to assist counties with offsetting half of the cost associated with special elections to fill state or federal offices; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA: SECTION 1. Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to elections and primaries generally, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows: "21-2-20. Subject to appropriations, the Secretary of State shall establish a grant program for the provision of funds to counties or county election superintendents to be used to offset half of the costs incurred by counties or county election superintendents associated with conducting a special election to fill any state or federal office." SECTION 2. All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed. ## Summaries written by Georgia Commons The following was written by claude-sonnet-5 from the text above and is not part of the bill. Quote the text, not the summary. A Georgia Senate bill would direct the Secretary of State to create a grant program that pays counties back for half the cost of running special elections to fill state or federal offices. ### Plain-language summary When a state or federal office in Georgia becomes vacant, counties have to hold special elections to fill it, and county governments currently bear the full cost of running those elections. This bill would add a new section to Georgia's election law (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-20) directing the Secretary of State to set up a grant program that reimburses counties for half of the costs tied to conducting a special election for a state or federal office. The program is explicitly made subject to legislative appropriations, meaning it would only operate if the General Assembly actually funds it in the state budget. The bill does not specify a dollar amount, application process, or start date beyond the standard repeal of conflicting laws in Section 2. ### What it does - Creates a new grant program run by the Secretary of State to help counties pay for special elections filling state or federal offices. - Limits the grant to covering half of a county's costs for conducting a given special election, leaving the other half to the county. - Makes the entire program conditional on the General Assembly appropriating money for it, rather than guaranteeing automatic funding. - Adds this authority as a new Code section, O.C.G.A. § 21-2-20, within the chapter governing elections and primaries generally. ### Who it affects County governments and county election superintendents, who run special elections and currently absorb the full cost, and the Secretary of State's office, which would administer the new grant program. Georgia voters in districts holding special elections are affected indirectly through county election budgets. ### Why it matters Special elections can be a significant unplanned expense for county budgets, especially smaller counties. If funded by the legislature, this program would cut counties' out-of-pocket costs for these elections roughly in half, though the relief depends entirely on whether lawmakers set aside money for it. ### Key provisions - Section 1 adds new Code section 21-2-20, directing the Secretary of State to establish a grant program for counties conducting special elections for state or federal offices. - The grant program is expressly conditioned on appropriations, meaning funding is not automatic and depends on future budget decisions. - The reimbursement is capped at half of the costs a county or county election superintendent incurs for the special election. - Section 2 repeals any conflicting laws, a standard closing provision. ## Status - Status: Introduced (2026-02-17) - Last action: Senate Read and Referred (2026-02-18) - Sponsors: Jaha Howard, Nan Orrock, RaShaun Kemp, Tonya Anderson, Kenya Wicks, Nabilah Islam Parkes, Sheikh Rahman - Official page: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/73270 > The history, votes, and amendments (95 characters) are at https://georgiacommons.org/bills/2025-2026/sb516.md?full=1