The GOP-controlled Georgia legislature on Thursday passed a wide-ranging elections measure that would expand access for candidates to appear on the state’s presidential ballot and would broaden abilities to challenge voter eligibility.
The House and Senate passed Senate Bill 189, which combined several previously separate election bills, sending it to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk. It was passed as the state’s two-year legislative session ended Friday.
The legislation could have immediate implications for the 2024 presidential election in the crucial battleground state.
Under the bill, any political party or political body could qualify for the presidential ballot if it already has gained access to the ballot in at least 20 states or territories.
The new provision could help independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is trying to appear on the ballot in all 50 states this November. He has so far only collected enough signatures to qualify on about a handful of ballots including Hawaii, Nevada, New Hampshire and Utah.
All of Georgia’s unhoused people will need to redo their voter registrations to comply with the law, too, as a provision in the bill requires those without a permanent address to register at the registrar’s office in the county where they reside. Previously, registered voters without permanent addresses have registered at shelters or government offices, including courthouses.
The bill also includes provisions that may make it easier for amateur voter fraud hunters to successfully challenge other voters’ registrations, by listing out details on what would substantiate the “probable cause” needed to uphold such a challenge.
Probable cause can now include an elector being registered at a nonresidential address as confirmed or listed by or in a government office, database, website, or publicly available sources derived solely from such government sources. A voter’s appearance in the USPS change-of-address database is not evidence alone of a voter’s ineligibility, the law notes, but could be used to help substantiate a challenge.
In 2021, Georgia lawmakers encouraged amateur voter fraud hunters by writing into the election code that residents could make an unlimited number of challenges. Since then, a handful of individuals have challenged tens of thousands of voter registrations, overwhelming election officials with research. One man developed a database, Eagle AI, that amateur fraud hunters pore over the voter rolls and search for potentially ineligible voters, like people registered at nonresidential buildings.
America’s voter rolls are built for registration, not removal, which means they may often include outdated voter registrations. Election officials have years-long procedures for removing outdated voter registrations, too. And while there’s no evidence that bloated voter rolls lead to fraud, officials and election experts warn that amateur fraud hunters may use discriminatory strategies to search for voters or that inaccurate data or typos might knock eligible voters off the roles.
“These mass voter challenges time and again disproportionately try and throw Black and Brown voters off the rolls. They have been a strategy for a long time to have a chilling effect on voting,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, interim CEO of Fair Fight Action.
Republicans, she said, are “looking for opportunities to shave off the votes of folks who are likely to vote for Democrat.”
