2021 Georgia Code
Title 21 - Elections
Chapter 2 - Elections and Primaries Generally
Article 15 - Miscellaneous Offenses
§ 21-2-566. Interference With Primaries and Elections Generally

Any person who:

1. Willfully prevents or attempts to prevent any poll officer from holding any primary or election under this chapter;
2. Uses or threatens violence in a manner that would prevent a reasonable poll officer or actually prevents a poll officer from the execution of his or her duties or materially interrupts or improperly and materially interferes with the execution of a poll officer's duties;
3. Willfully blocks or attempts to block the avenue to the door of any polling place;
4. Uses or threatens violence in a manner that would prevent a reasonable elector from voting or actually prevents any elector from voting;
5. Willfully prepares or presents to any poll officer a fraudulent voter's certificate not signed by the elector whose certificate it purports to be;
6. Knowingly deposits fraudulent ballots in the ballot box;
7. Knowingly registers fraudulent votes upon any voting machine; or
8. Willfully tampers with any electors list, voter's certificate, numbered list of voters, ballot box, voting machine, direct recording electronic (DRE) equipment, electronic ballot marker, or tabulating machine

   shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years or to pay a fine not to exceed $100,000.00, or both.

(Code 1933, § 34-1924, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, Ex. Sess., p. 26, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 206, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1; Ga. L. 2003, p. 517, § 61; Ga. L. 2007, p. 536, § 5/SB 40; Ga. L. 2008, p. 781, § 16/HB 1112; Ga. L. 2019, p. 7, § 44/HB 316.)

The 2019 amendment, effective April 2, 2019, inserted "electronic ballot marker," near the end of paragraph (8).

- Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2019, a period was deleted at the end of paragraph (8).

- For article on the 2019 amendment of this Code section, see 36 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 81 (2019).

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

Editor's notes.

- In light of the similarity of the statutory provisions, decisions under former Penal Code 1910, § 660 are included in the annotations for this Code section.

Primary elections content of section 660, subsection 6, Penal Code 1910, which provided that any person who shall deposit a ballot at any election in any name other than that person's own name, as it appears on the list of registered voters prescribed by law, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. George v. State, 18 Ga. App. 753, 90 S.E. 493 (1916); Mark v. State, 18 Ga. App. 754, 90 S.E. 493 (1916) (decided under former Penal Code 1910, § 660).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 26 Am. Jur. 2d, Elections, § 454.

- 29 C.J.S., Elections, §§ 568, 572, 575 et seq.