2020 Georgia Code
Title 21 - Elections
Chapter 2 - Elections and Primaries Generally
Article 4 - Selection and Qualification of Candidates and Presidential Electors
Part 3 - Nomination and Qualification of Independent Candidates, Candidates of Political Bodies, and Presidential Electors
§ 21-2-170. Nomination of Candidates by Petition; Form of Petition; Signatures; Limitations as to Circulation and Amendment of Petitions; Listing of Such Candidates on Ballots; Charter or Ordinance Authorization

1. In addition to the party nominations made at primaries, nominations of candidates for public office other than municipal office may be made by nomination petitions signed by electors and filed in the manner provided in this Code section, and such nomination by petition may also be made for municipal public office if provided for by the municipality's charter or by municipal ordinance. Such petition shall be in the form prescribed by the officers with whom they are filed, and no forms other than the ones so prescribed shall be used for such purposes, but such petitions shall provide sufficient space for the printing of the elector's name as well as for his or her signature. In addition to the other requirements provided for in this Code section, each elector signing a nomination petition shall also print his or her name thereon.
2. A nomination petition of a candidate seeking an office which is voted upon state wide shall be signed by a number of voters equal to 1 percent of the total number of registered voters eligible to vote in the last election for the filling of the office the candidate is seeking and the signers of such petition shall be registered and eligible to vote in the election at which such candidate seeks to be elected. A nomination petition of a candidate for any other office shall be signed by a number of voters equal to 5 percent of the total number of registered voters eligible to vote in the last election for the filling of the office the candidate is seeking and the signers of such petition shall be registered and eligible to vote in the election at which such candidate seeks to be elected. However, in the case of a candidate seeking an office for which there has never been an election or seeking an office in a newly constituted constituency, the percentage figure shall be computed on the total number of registered voters in the constituency who would have been qualified to vote for such office had the election been held at the last general election and the signers of such petition shall be registered and eligible to vote in the election at which such candidate seeks to be elected.
3. Each person signing a nomination petition shall declare therein that he or she is a duly qualified and registered elector of the state, county, or municipality entitled to vote in the next election for the filling of the office sought by the candidate supported by the petition and shall add to his or her signature his or her residence address, giving municipality, if any, and county, with street and number, if any, and be urged to add the person's date of birth which shall be used for verification purposes. No person shall sign the same petition more than once. Each petition shall support the candidacy of only a single candidate, except any political body seeking to have the names of its candidates for the offices of presidential electors placed upon the ballot through nomination petitions shall not compile a separate petition for each candidate for such office, but such political body shall compile its petitions so that the entire slate of candidates of such body for such office shall be listed together on the same petition. A signature shall be stricken from the petition when the signer so requests prior to the presentation of the petition to the appropriate officer for filing, but such a request shall be disregarded if made after such presentation.
4. A nomination petition shall be on one or more sheets of uniform size and different sheets must be used by signers resident in different counties or municipalities. The upper portion of each sheet, prior to being signed by any petitioner, shall bear the name and title of the officer with whom the petition will be filed, the name of the candidate to be supported by the petition, his or her profession, business, or occupation, if any, his or her place of residence with street and number, if any, the name of the office he or she is seeking, his or her political body affiliation, if any, and the name and date of the election in which the candidate is seeking election. If more than one sheet is used, they shall be bound together when offered for filing if they are intended to constitute one nomination petition, and each sheet shall be numbered consecutively, beginning with number one, at the foot of each page. Each sheet shall bear on the bottom or back thereof the affidavit of the circulator of such sheet, which affidavit must be subscribed and sworn to by such circulator before a notary public and shall set forth:
   1. His or her residence address, giving municipality with street and number, if any;
   2. That each signer manually signed his or her own name with full knowledge of the contents of the nomination petition;
   3. That each signature on such sheet was signed within 180 days of the last day on which such petition may be filed; and
   4. That, to the best of the affiant's knowledge and belief, the signers are registered electors of the state qualified to sign the petition, that their respective residences are correctly stated in the petition, and that they all reside in the county or municipality named in the affidavit.

      No notary public may sign the petition as an elector or serve as a circulator of any petition which he or she notarized. Any and all sheets of a petition that have the circulator's affidavit notarized by a notary public who also served as a circulator of one or more sheets of the petition or who signed one of the sheets of the petition as an elector shall be disqualified and rejected.

5. No nomination petition shall be circulated prior to 180 days before the last day on which such petition may be filed, and no signature shall be counted unless it was signed within 180 days of the last day for filing the same.
6. A nomination petition shall not be amended or supplemented after its presentation to the appropriate officer for filing.
7. Only those candidates whose petitions are accompanied by a certificate sworn to by the chairperson and secretary of a political body duly registered with the Secretary of State as required by Code Section 21-2-110, stating that the named candidate is the nominee of that political body by virtue of being nominated in a convention, as prescribed in Code Section 21-2-172, shall be listed on the ballot under the name of the political body. All petition candidates not so designated as the nominee of a political body shall be listed on the ballot in the independent column.
8. Notwithstanding the provisions of this Code section, candidates for municipal offices may be nominated by petitions as provided for in this Code section only if the municipality authorizes such nominations by petitions in its charter or by ordinance.

(Ga. L. 1922, p. 97, § 3; Code 1933, § 34-1904; Ga. L. 1943, p. 292, § 1; Ga. L. 1962, p. 618, § 1; Code 1933, § 34-1010, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, Ex. Sess., p. 26, § 1; Ga. L. 1968, p. 257, § 1; Ga. L. 1968, p. 871, § 7; Ga. L. 1970, p. 347, § 13; Ga. L. 1974, p. 4, § 3; Ga. L. 1975, p. 861, § 1; Ga. L. 1979, p. 616, § 1; Ga. L. 1983, p. 140, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 890, § 3; Ga. L. 1987, p. 34, § 1; Ga. L. 1990, p. 243, § 4; Ga. L. 1991, p. 133, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 23, § 2; Ga. L. 2001, p. 240, § 12.)

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, opinions decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Purpose of this section is to prevent persons with little or no following encumbering the official ballot. 1948-49 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 157.

Nominating petition is necessary only if the municipality's charter or ordinance so requires it, and it must be in the form prescribed by the law. 1971 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 71-185 (decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910).

- It is essential to the validity of a signature that it appear on the petition in a manner identical to that in which it appears on the voter registration list. 1962 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 205 (decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910).

- The overwhelming weight of authority seems to be that the invalidity of one or more signatures on a petition does not invalidate all others not subject to such infirmity. Similarly, fraudulent signatures do not invalidate the entire petition where there is no charge that the candidate personally was in any way implicated in such fraud. 1962 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 205 (decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910).

- The language, "in the last election for the filling of the office the candidate is seeking," contained in O.C.G.A. § 21-2-170(b), refers to the last election for the particular office sought by the candidate. 1990 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 90-6.

- The form prescribed by the Secretary of State for the nominating petition of a candidate seeking to have the candidate's name placed on the general election ballot cannot be altered by the candidate, and if altered sheets are included in the petition, the altered sheets would be eliminated as invalid without affecting the validity of the petition, provided the petition was otherwise valid. 1976 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U76-22.

- All signatures, otherwise proper, on a nomination petition signed thereon within 180 days of the last day for filing the petition, should be counted. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-204 (decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910).

- Where a given sheet contained the names of eight Bibb County electors and two Jones County electors, it was permissible for the party to delete the names of the Jones County electors. Although former Code 1933, § 34-1011 (see now O.C.G.A. § 21-2-171(a)) provided that a petition must not contain "material alterations" without the consent of the signers, a deletion of a name would not violate that section, as it was obviously intended to prevent changes in names or addresses to keep improper signatures on a petition. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-56 (decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910).

- The General Assembly intends that when an election district has been newly created, or its boundaries changed, the number of signatures needed would be based on the number of electors in the new or altered district who were registered to vote in the last election. 1968 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 68-231 (decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910).

- An independent candidate for President of the United States may have the names of the candidate's presidential electors placed on the general election ballot by the petition method; and the entire slate of presidential elector candidates for such individual shall be listed together on the same petition. 1979 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 79-38.

Each sheet of a nomination petition should be numbered consecutively, beginning with number one, at the foot of each page; regardless of any control numbers which are used in the obtaining of signatures, the pages should be renumbered when submitted to the Secretary of State. 1965-66 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 66-56 (decided under former Code 1933, § 34A-910).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 26 Am. Jur. 2d, Elections, § 239 et seq.

- 29 C.J.S., Elections, § 193 et seq.

- Nonregistration as affecting one's qualification as signer of petition for special election, submission of proposition, or nominating petition, 100 A.L.R. 1308.

Constitutionality of election laws as regards nominations by petition or otherwise than by statutory convention or primary election, 146 A.L.R. 668.

Construction and application of Elections Clause of United States Constitution, U.S. Const. Art. I, § 4, cl.1, and state constitutional provisions concerning congressional elections, 34 A.L.R.6th 643.

Validity, construction, and application of state statutes regulating or proscribing payment in connection with gathering signatures on nominating petitions for public office or initiative petitions, 40 A.L.R.6th 317.