Q&A on the News

Jill Stein fell short of the 7,500 required signatures needed to qualify to be on the Georgia ballot. Can you tell me what is the difference between qualifying as a valid signature for a party’s petition for a spot on the ballot versus the kind of ID/ residency requirement needed to legally vote on Election Day?

—Fran Downey, Acworth

Georgia requires signers of petitions to be registered voters.

They have to sign (no e-signatures) the petition and include their full address. They also are asked to provide their date of birth, for verification.

The state then asks the county election offices to confirm if that person is a registered voter.

Any signature that can’t be confirmed by the state’s registered voter database isn’t counted.

To vote in an election, Georgia’s voter identification law requires voters show one of six different kinds of photo ID at the polls.

They are, according to the secretary of state’s website (sos.ga.gov):

A valid state or federal government issued ID, including a free ID card issued by a county registrar’s office or the Georgia Department of Driver Services

A Georgia driver’s license (even expired)

An employee ID from any branch, department, agency or entity of the U.S. government, Georgia, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other state entity U.S. passport U.S. military ID Tribal ID

Info from the license or ID card is then compared to information on the state’s database.