HB 215: Voter List Integrity Act; enact

Georgia law currently lets the Secretary of State join a nongovernmental organization that shares voter registration data with other states to help keep voter lists accurate. This bill removes that authorization entirely and instead prohibits the Secretary of State, other state agencies, and local boards of registrars or election superintendents from participating in any multistate voter list maintenance organization that encourages registering new voters or that shares voter data for purposes beyond removing dead, duplicate, or ineligible voters. Any state or local official currently part of such a prohibited group would have to withdraw within 90 days of the law taking effect. In place of that arrangement, the bill authorizes the Secretary of State to enter into new joint compacts directly with other states' chief election officials to share voter list data, including driver's license and ID information from the Department of Driver Services, with the ability to withdraw at any time. Information Georgia already received from the old nongovernmental entity stays exempt from open records requests. The law would take effect once the Governor signs it or it becomes law without a signature.

• Removes the Secretary of State's existing legal authority to join a nongovernmental voter registration data-sharing organization.
• Bans the Secretary of State, other state agencies, and local election boards from joining multistate voter list groups that encourage registering new voters or share data beyond removing ineligible voters.
• Requires any official already in a now-prohibited multistate group to end that participation within 90 days of the law taking effect.
• Creates new authority for the Secretary of State to form direct, two-state or multistate joint compacts with other states solely for voter list maintenance.
• Allows the Department of Driver Services to share driver's license and ID card data with the Secretary of State to support these new list maintenance compacts.
• Keeps confidential any voter data Georgia previously received from the old nongovernmental entity, exempting it from Georgia's open records law (O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70 and related sections).

The Secretary of State's office, other state agencies and boards, county boards of registrars, and election superintendents across Georgia are directly affected, since they would face new restrictions on which outside organizations they can share voter data with. Georgia voters are affected indirectly through how their registration records are checked and maintained.

Georgia's participation in multistate data-sharing arrangements affects how quickly the state identifies voters who have moved, died, or become otherwise ineligible, and how their personal data is shared and used. Ending participation in some groups and starting new bilateral compacts could change which states Georgia coordinates with and under what terms.

• Section 2 adds definitions of 'multistate voter list maintenance organization' and 'voter list maintenance' to Georgia's election code (O.C.G.A. § 21-2-2).
• Section 3 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 21-2-225 to strip the Secretary of State's authority to join the prior nongovernmental data-sharing entity and instead bans joining multistate groups that solicit new voter registrations or misuse shared data.
• Section 3 sets a 90-day deadline for state and local officials to withdraw from any newly prohibited multistate organization after the law takes effect.
• Section 3 creates new authority for the Secretary of State to form voter list maintenance joint compacts directly with other states, including sharing driver's license and ID data via the Department of Driver Services.
• Section 4 amends O.C.G.A. § 21-2-232 to remove references to the old nongovernmental entity as a source of information for cancelling voter registrations when electors move to another state.
• Section 5 sets the effective date as the date the Governor signs the bill or it becomes law without signature.

1. 2025-04-04House Withdrawn, Recommitted (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-02-27House Committee Favorably Reported By Substitute (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-02-04House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
4. 2025-02-03House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
5. 2025-01-30House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Martin Momtahan (R, HD-017)Patrocinador principal
• Tim Fleming (R, HD-114)
• Rick Townsend (R, HD-179)
• Mandi Ballinger (R, HD-023)
• Rick Jasperse (R, HD-011)
• Joseph Gullett (R, HD-019)

• voter registration
• election administration
• voter list maintenance
• open records
• state data sharing