On February 8, the state of Georgia, in response to a lawsuit, agreed to ease its procedures for handling new voter registrations. Under the old practice, if a new voter registration form was submitted, election officials checked it against the data in the state drivers’ license records, and also checked Social Security records. If there was the slightest discrepancy, such as the use of a maiden name when the applicant first received a Social Security card and use of her married name when she registered to vote, or the slightest spelling deviation, including apostrophes, the voter registration form was rejected.

Under the settlement, such voter registration applications will be processed, with a notation “pending”. When the applicant shows up to vote the first time, he or she will be required to show certain kinds of government I.D. and if that satisfies the discrepancy, the applicant will be able to vote and be considered a normal registrant. The case is Georgia State Conference of the NAACP v Kemp, n.d., 2:16cv-219. The lawsuit had been filed September 14, 2016. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.