Georgia Senate Adopts Resolution Urging Secretary of State to Share Voter File with DOJ

The Georgia Senate on Feb. 2, 2026 adopted Senate Resolution 5 63, an urging resolution asking the Georgia secretary of state to comply with a request from the U.S. Department of Justice for the state’s voter-registration list under the National Voter Registration Act, the Help America Vote Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1960. The resolution passed on a recorded vote, 31–22.

Sen. Robertson, the resolution’s sponsor, told colleagues the measure was straightforward: “This resolution is very simple. It’s very clean,” and framed it as an effort to follow federal requests that other states had accommodated through memoranda of understanding. Robertson said the request fits existing federal statutory frameworks and that sharing the information with authorized federal personnel is a lawful part of oversight and civil-rights enforcement.

Opponents raised legal and policy objections during hours of debate. A senator presenting the chamber’s minority report argued the measure was driven by partisan dynamics and political pressure and said, “That’s 100% all that it does.” Other senators warned that complying as written could conflict with Georgia law that limits the disclosure of sensitive identifiers; one senator asked directly whether the resolution would effectively “urge the secretary of state to violate Georgia law.” Several members also pointed to recent federal activity in Fulton County — where law-enforcement seizure of election materials prompted public concern about chain of custody — and said that context made this an inopportune moment for a parallel state-level action.

Supporters repeatedly framed the resolution as an act of transparency. One backer said Georgia should have ‘nothing to hide’ and urged cooperation with federal investigators while protecting personal data through law-enforcement safeguards. Opponents pointed to a recent federal court record and public statements by prosecutors and argued that the Justice Department’s stated purpose for requests does not always reflect downstream use; they said that the department’s internal handling (including disclosures to other agencies) had been questioned in litigation.

The Senate debated technical and statutory points as well. Supporters noted that other states had used memoranda of understanding to give federal authorities access while preserving confidentiality; critics said state law (cited on the floor) constrains how social-security numbers, dates of birth, and license numbers may be disclosed and that any unredacted transfer would require statutory change.

After debate closed, the chamber ordered the main question and recorded the adoption of SR 5 63, 31 yays to 22 nays. The resolution is nonbinding (an urging resolution) and does not itself compel the secretary of state to produce files; it expresses the chamber’s recommendation that the secretary cooperate with the DOJ request consistent with applicable law and protections for sensitive personal data.

Next steps: the resolution urges compliance and coordination; it does not change state law. Any change to legal disclosure limits would require separate legislation or regulatory action and, according to senators on the floor, possibly specific memoranda of understanding addressing data security and chain-of-custody safeguards.