A bill has been introduced in the Georgia House to make it illegal for people to work on voter registration drives, unless they are registered voters in Georgia. It is HB 225, by five Republican representatives: Ed Rynders, Jeff May, Jay Roberts, Edward Lindsey, and Tom Rice.
Specifically, the bill says, “Voter registration applications shall be distributed only by persons who are registered voters of this state and voter registration drives shall be conducted only by persons who are registered voters of this state.”
The bill, if enacted, would probably be unconstitutional under the U.S. Supreme Court opinion Buckley v American Constitutional Law Foundation. That 1999 decision said states cannot require petition circulators to be registered voters. Presumably the First Amendment principles involving petition circulators also apply to people engaged in asking people if they wish to fill out a voter registration form.
Wouldn’t it also go against HAVA? As I understand it, that outlaws impeding voting registration anywhere in the country. There may have also been some court decisions pertaining to this from the civil rights era.
Good point.
This is a blatant Jim Crowe law.