The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
State moves toward more ID to vote
How proposed changes in absentee voting requirements would work.
Voters would have to provide more identifification to prove their identity when casting an absentee ballot under a proposal that has gained broad support among Georgia’s Republican majority in the General Assembly.
For most voters, the ID requirement could be fulfilled by writing down a driver’s license number on an absentee ballot request form and again on the absentee ballot envelope. About 3% of registered voters don’t have a license or state ID number on file, and they would need to submit additional documentation.
The absentee ID proposal appears to be one of the most likely changes in voting rules to pass in Georgia, with similar language in both House and Senate bills. Lawmakers are also considering legislation to end no- excuse absentee voting, limit Sunday voting and restrict drop boxes.
The ID number would become a new way of
verifying absentee voters, replacing Georgia’s signature matching process. Under existing law, election workers compare the handwriting of signatures with voters’ signatures kept on file, often from when they registered to vote.
While most Georgians already have a driver’ s license or state identification card, voting rights groups say the ID proposal would create a hardship for more than 200,000 registered voters who don’t have an ID number. They’d have to either obtain a free voter ID card or return a copy of other documentation when requesting an absentee ballot, such as a utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, passport or military ID.
La To sh a Brown, co- founder of Black Voters Matter, said the ID requirements would make it harder for Georgia’ s poorest voters to participate in elections. They’ re the most likely to lack an ID number, and they’d have to make copies of documents to vote absentee.
“That is a burden for people, particularly working folks and poor folks,” Brown said. “Any time there are barriers placed on people who are already at an economic disadvantage, what you’re going to see is a drop- off in voting.”
Republican legislators backing the idea of an ID number say it would be more consistent than the signature matching process, which can cause absentee ballot rejections if a voter’s signature changed over time or election workers misjudge a signature. They also say ID numbers would prevent the possibility of forged voter signatures.
“I’ d rather have some objectivity,” Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, R- Carrollton, said before a vote on the bill. “It’s to ensure that the integrity of that ballot is taken to the point where you go, ‘ This beyond anybody’s reasonable doubt is this person.’”
Voters who requested an absentee ballot online last year were already required to fill in a driver’s license or state ID number instead of writing their signature. About 23% of absentee ballot applicants used the secretary of state’s website before the November general election, a rate that rose to 35% for the U.S. Senate runoffs in January.
Paper absentee ballot application forms didn’ t require ID numbers. Instead, voters provided their name, address, date of birth and signature.
Signature verification of absentee ballots came under attack after the presidential election, when President Donald Trump and his supporters made unsupported claims of fraudulent absentee ballots.
A December audit by the GB I and state electi on investigators didn’ t find any fraudulent ballots after reviewing a sample of 15,000 absentee ballot envelopes in Cobb County. Ten absentee ballots that had been accepted had mismatched or missing signatures, but the voters who cast those ballots confirmed to investigators that they had submitted those ballots.
Statewide election data shows similar ballot rejection rates in 2020 and 2016 because of missing or mismatched voter signatures. When election officials reject ballots based on a problem with signatures, voters have until three days after election day to provide documentation proving their identity so their ballot can be counted, according to state law.
The drive to use ID numbers instead of signatures to verify absentee ballots is backed by some of Georgia’s top elected officials, including Gov. Brian Kemp, House Speaker David Ralston and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, all Republicans.
In addition, 74% of registered voters said in a January poll by The Atlanta Journal- Constitution they support requiring voters to include a copy of photo ID or other documentation in order to cast an absentee ballot.
Under state law, in- person voters are already required to provide photo ID at their polling places.
The measures requiring I D numbers f or absentee voting, Senate Bill 241 and House Bill 531, are pending i n committees, with f i nal votes expected before this year’s legislative session ends March 31.