Senate ethics committee backs changes to HB 397, delays ERIC removal until 2027

The Georgia Senate Ethics Committee on a late-night vote recommended passage of House Bill 397, a wide-ranging elections measure, after sponsors said they removed three previously contested sections, added new procedural limits for counties and set an implementation date of July 1, 2027, for changes tied to ERIC membership.

The bill sponsor said the committee was working from LC 473701S and that, after testimony and follow-up meetings with Chairman Anderson, the bill had been revised to remove three sections: a provision requiring Department of Motor Vehicles employees to ask about citizenship; an appellate authority for the State Election Board (SEB) regarding voter-roll challenges; and a precinct hand-count reconciliation rule that would have required counting ballots at precincts the night an election closes. "We removed section the old section number 4, which dealt with the DMV language, which required DMV employees to ask about citizenship. We removed section 6, which is the appellate authority for the SEB regarding the voter roll challenges. We also removed old, old section number 13, which is the hand count reconciliation rule," the bill sponsor said.

Nut graf: Committee members said the changes were an attempt to address concerns raised during a previous session and public testimony. Sponsors also inserted an implementation date of July 1, 2027, for provisions affecting ERIC (the Electronic Registration Information Center), a delay sponsors said gives the General Assembly and any incoming constitutional officers time to consider options before the 2026 statewide election.

Committee discussion focused on operational and legal details rather than substantive policy changes removed from the bill. The sponsor said language asking the SEB to develop potential recommendations about ERIC would remain and be further evaluated in the House Government Affairs Committee during the 2025 session and beyond. "We put an implementation date of 07/01/2027. So it gets us through the 2026 statewide election next year," the sponsor said.

Other amendments and clarifications added to the bill address county-level election operations. The bill would prohibit county election superintendents from uploading certain election materials to the public website outside of business hours; the sponsor said that change is intended to accommodate smaller, rural counties that lack 24/7 IT support and that counties may still post documents in public windows or on office doors. The sponsor summarized that change as: "the election superintendent cannot upload to such website outside of business hours." The bill also directs the state to publish early-voting reports by precinct so the public can see daily turnout and which precincts reported voting counts.

Committee members debated a provision that prohibits counties from accepting absentee ballots on the Saturday and Sunday immediately before an election (lines 302–318, page 13 of the working draft). Committee members noted that the bill shortens the latest date a voter may request an absentee ballot to roughly 11 days before Election Day (described in the meeting as "11 days before," typically the Friday before), a change sponsors said was intended to allow time for mailing and processing. A committee member said the change could limit a voter's ability to hand-deliver an absentee ballot during that final weekend and asked what recourse counties would have if mailing delays left voters without ballots; another committee member pointed out that judges commonly issue orders to extend voting hours at particular precincts when unexpected problems occur.

Several members raised operational concerns for rural counties, including surveillance for drop boxes and staffing for uploads. One suggestion from a committee member was to allow portable drop boxes that can be rolled into secure storage at the end of the day and sealed, similar to current procedures for absentee ballots. The sponsor said county discretion remains on the number and location of early-voting sites and that "pop-up" early-voting locations remain permitted under the bill.

A separate line of questioning touched on whether the bill's language giving custodial authority over certain records to the SEB would conflict with the secretary of state's status as a constitutional officer. A committee member asked whether the proposed custody requirement — described in the bill as an amendment to code section 21-2-31 to have the State Election Board "maintain custody of all state election investigative reports and communication between the secretary of state and election superintendents" — would infringe on the secretary of state's constitutional duties. Legislative counsel (identified in the meeting as Stuart) replied that the General Assembly routinely sets duties by statute and authorizes boards to promulgate rules to implement laws, and that, in counsel's view, the change would not necessarily be unconstitutional.

Members also asked whether the Legislature should simultaneously resolve other pending election infrastructure questions, including whether to remove QR codes from ballots and require hand-marked ballots — a change that at one point was estimated in discussion at roughly $70 million to implement. The sponsor and others said that implementation and funding questions would likely require either appropriation or separate legislation and that those matters could be evaluated during the upcoming session and in discussions with house leadership and the secretary of state's office.

The committee moved a "do pass" recommendation for HB 397 after a short attempt to table the bill failed. A motion to table was made and debated but did not pass; the subsequent "do pass" motion received seconds and a hand/voice vote. The committee did not record a roll-call tally in the transcript; the clerk announced the motion passed and adjourned the meeting.

Ending: Sponsors said they will continue to refine language in the House Government Affairs Committee and consult with county election officials and the secretary of state's office. The committee's recommendation moves the bill forward in the legislative process; exact implementation details on ERIC, ballot-marking technology and other operational subjects were left for further study or appropriation.