2021 Georgia Code
Title 21 - Elections
Chapter 2 - Elections and Primaries Generally
Article 12 - Returns
§ 21-2-500. Delivery of Voting Materials; Presentation to Grand Jury in Certain Cases; Preservation and Destruction; Destruction of Unused Ballots

1. Immediately upon completing the returns required by this article, in the case of elections other than municipal elections, the superintendent shall deliver in sealed containers to the clerk of the superior court or, if designated by the clerk of the superior court, to the county records manager or other office or officer under the jurisdiction of a county governing authority which maintains or is responsible for records, as provided in Code Section 50-18-99, the used and void ballots and the stubs of all ballots used; one copy of the oaths of poll officers; and one copy of each numbered list of voters, tally paper, voting machine paper proof sheet, and return sheet involved in the primary or election. In addition, the superintendent shall deliver copies of the voting machine ballot labels, computer chips containing ballot tabulation programs, copies of computer records of ballot design, and similar items or an electronic record of the program by which votes are to be recorded or tabulated, which is captured prior to the election, and which is stored on some alternative medium such as a CD-ROM or floppy disk simultaneously with the programming of the PROM or other memory storage device. The clerk, county records manager, or the office or officer designated by the clerk shall hold such ballots and other documents under seal, unless otherwise directed by the superior court, for at least 24 months, after which time they shall be presented to the grand jury for inspection at its next meeting. Such ballots and other documents shall be preserved in the office of the clerk, county records manager, or officer designated by the clerk until the adjournment of such grand jury, and then they may be destroyed, unless otherwise provided by order of the superior court.
2. The superintendent shall retain all unused ballots for 30 days after the election or primary and, if no challenge or contest is filed prior to or during that period that could require future use of such ballots, may thereafter destroy such unused ballots. If a challenge or contest is filed during that period that could require the use of such ballots, they shall be retained until the final disposition of the challenge or contest and, if remaining unused, may thereafter be destroyed.
3. Immediately upon completing the returns required by this article, the municipal superintendent shall deliver in sealed containers to the city clerk the used and void ballots and the stubs of all ballots used; one copy of the oaths of poll officers; and one copy of each numbered list of voters, tally paper, voting machine paper proof sheet, and return sheet involved in the primary or election. In addition, the municipal superintendent shall deliver copies of the voting machine ballot labels, computer chips containing ballot tabulation programs, copies of computer records of ballot design, and similar items or an electronic record of the program by which votes are to be recorded or tabulated, which is captured prior to the election, and which is stored on some alternative medium such as a CD-ROM or floppy disk simultaneously with the programming of the PROM or other memory storage device. Such ballots and other documents shall be preserved under seal in the office of the city clerk for at least 24 months; and then they may be destroyed unless otherwise provided by order of the mayor and council if a contest has been filed or by court order, provided that the electors list, voter's certificates, and duplicate oaths of assisted electors shall be immediately returned by the superintendent to the county registrar.

(Code 1933, § 34-1515, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, Ex. Sess., p. 26, § 1; Ga. L. 1969, p. 292, § 1; Ga. L. 1970, p. 347, § 30; Ga. L. 1978, p. 1004, § 33; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1074, § 1; Ga. L. 1994, p. 1406, § 26; Ga. L. 1997, p. 590, § 38; Ga. L. 1998, p. 145, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1; Ga. L. 1999, p. 29, § 6; Ga. L. 2003, p. 517, § 58; Ga. L. 2017, p. 697, § 21/HB 268.)

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, substituted "county registrar" for "county or municipal registrar as appropriate" at the end of the last sentence of subsection (c).

- For survey article on local government law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 263 (2008).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Penal Code 1910, § 658 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

- If the number of votes was knowingly and falsely misstated by a superintendent of an election, the superintendent has failed to discharge a duty imposed by law, and the superintendent was liable to be prosecuted under former Penal Code 1910, § 658. Black v. State, 36 Ga. App. 286, 136 S.E. 334 (1927) (decided under former Penal Code 1910, § 658).

- Because a superior court had not ordered that its seal be lifted under O.C.G.A. § 21-2-500(a), a CD-ROM containing election information was by law prohibited or specifically exempted from being open to inspection by the general public and thus was not an open record subject to disclosure under O.C.G.A. § 50-18-70(b). Smith v. DeKalb County, 288 Ga. App. 574, 654 S.E.2d 469 (2007), cert. denied, No. S08C0596, 2008 Ga. LEXIS 291 (Ga. 2008).