---
title: O.C.G.A. § 21-2-434. Restrictions as to removal of ballots from book or polling place; deposit of official ballots in box; disposition of unofficial ballots.
collection: code
id: 21-2-434
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 21-2-434 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/21-2-434
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/21-2-434.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/21-2-434/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t21-(v18)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=868a5c43_0#page=494
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: ELECTIONS / ELECTIONS AND PRIMARIES GENERALLY / PREPARATION FOR AND CONDUCT OF PRIMARIES AND ELECTIONS / PRECINCTS USING PAPER BALLOTS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 21-2-434. Restrictions as to removal of ballots from book or polling place; deposit of official ballots in box; disposition of unofficial ballots.

No official ballot shall be taken or detached from its stub in any book of ballots, except by a poll officer when a person desiring to vote has been found to be an elector entitled to vote. Not more than one ballot shall be removed at any one time or given to an elector, except in the case of a spoiled ballot as provided by this article. No person other than the poll officers shall take or remove any ballot from the polling place. Only official ballots shall be deposited in the ballot box and counted, except as otherwise provided in this article. If any ballot appears to have been obtained otherwise than from the superintendent as provided by this article, the same shall not be counted; and the chief manager shall transmit such ballot to the district attorney without delay, together with whatever information he or she may have regarding the same.

## History

Code 1933, § 34-1318, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, Ex. Sess., p. 26, § 1; Code 1933, § 34-1320, as redesignated by Ga. L. 1969, p. 308, § 19; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1.

## Administrative Rules and Regulations

Spoiled ballot definition, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Georgia Election Code, Absentee Voting, § 183-1-14-.07.