Below is from Garland Favorito of VoterGA.
VoterGA Supporters,
As I previously reported last year, Cobb County Superior Court Judge, Adele Grubbs, ruled that candidates in Georgia have “no compelling reason” to see the absentee ballots that voters cast for them in any given election. This means that there is no way to ensure that absentee ballot counts which have been reported for any race are accurate. In response, State Representative, Charles Gregory, has introduced HB852, a bill that allows candidates this option. The text of this simple one paragraph bill which will help prevent Georgia elections from being conducted in total secrecy is included below. Like most other house legislation, this bill is likely to die in committee, since Rep. Gregory, the former head of the Ron Paul campaign in Georgia, is not in the inner circle of the establishment formed by the Speaker of the House. If you would like this bill to have a hearing you can contact, the chairwoman of the House Government Affairs Committee and request that it be heard. In order of effectiveness, personal visits are preferable over phone calls, which are preferable over faxes, which are preferable over Emails. Also included below are the Email addresses for the administrative assistant and policy analyst of the committee who have been supportive of our previous efforts.. The Chairwoman is Amy Carter. The contact information for her and the Government Affairs Committee is:
Rep. Amy Carter
218 State Capitol
Atlanta, GA 30334
Phone: (404) 656-6801
Fax: (404) 656-6700
Chair: [email protected]
Admin: [email protected]
Policy: [email protected]
Rep. Amy Carter
District Address
PO Box 4930
Valdosta, GA 31604
229.245.2733 – Office
229.245.8890 – Fax
14 LC 21 2279
H. B. 852
– 1 –
House Bill 852
By: Representative Gregory of the 34th
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT
1 To amend Article 10 of Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated,
2 relating to absentee voting, so as to provide that any candidate in an election or primary shall
3 be entitled to inspect and reproduce absentee ballots for a certain period of time after the
4 election or primary; to provide for applicability; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
5 purposes.
6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
7 SECTION 1.
8 Article 10 of Chapter 2 of Title 21 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to
9 absentee voting, is amended by adding a new Code section to read as follows:
10 “21-2-391.
11 Any candidate in an election or primary shall be given the opportunity, upon request, to
12 inspect absentee ballots for a period of two years after the date of such election or primary.
13 Such candidate shall be entitled to create reproductions of such ballots at his or her
14 expense. Such inspection shall be made at a reasonable time and place determined by the
15 custodian of such absentee ballots. This Code section shall be applicable to elections or
16 primaries held prior to July 1, 2014, and to any election or primary held after that date.”
17 SECTION 2.
18 All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.