2022 Georgia Code
Title 21 - Elections
Chapter 2 - Elections and Primaries Generally
Article 4 - Selection and Qualification of Candidates and Presidential Electors
Part 1 - General Provisions
§ 21-2-130. Procedures for Qualification of Candidates Generally

Candidates may qualify for an election as follows:

1. Nomination through a political party primary;
2. Filing a notice of candidacy and affidavit and paying a qualifying fee or filing a pauper’s affidavit with a pauper’s petition in conjunction with:
   1. Filing a nomination petition declared lawful pursuant to Code Section 21-2-171 either as an independent candidate or as a nominee of a political body, if duly certified by the chairperson and the secretary of the political body as having been nominated in a duly constituted political body convention as prescribed in Code Section 21-2-172;
   2. Nomination for a state-wide office by a duly constituted political body convention as prescribed in Code Section 21-2-172 if the political body making the nomination has qualified to nominate candidates for state-wide public office under the provisions of Code Section 21-2-180;
   3. Candidacy in a special election as prescribed in subsection (e) of Code Section 21-2-132;
   4. Qualifying as an incumbent candidate to succeed such incumbent as prescribed in subsection (e) of Code Section 21-2-132; or
   5. Candidacy for election to a nonpartisan office;
3. In the case of an election for presidential electors, nomination as prescribed by rules of a political party and subsection (f) of Code Section 21-2-153; or
4. Substitute nomination by a political party or body as prescribed in Code Section 21-2-134.

History. Code 1933, § 34-1001, enacted by Ga. L. 1970, p. 347, § 13; Ga. L. 1983, p. 1190, § 2; Ga. L. 1986, p. 890, § 1; Ga. L. 1997, p. 590, § 6; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1; Ga. L. 2001, p. 269, § 3; Ga. L. 2017, p. 697, § 2/HB 268.

The 2017 amendment, effective July 1, 2017, substituted “as follows” for “by virtue of” at the end of the introductory paragraph; substituted “through a political party primary” for “in a primary conducted by a political party” at the end of paragraph (1); rewrote paragraph (2); added subparagraphs (2)(A) through (2)(E); deleted former paragraph (3), which read: “Nomination for a state-wide office by a duly constituted political body convention as prescribed in Code Section 21-2-172 if the political body making the nomination has qualified to nominate candidates for state-wide public office under the provisions of Code Section 21-2-180;”; redesignated former paragraphs (4) and (5) as present paragraphs (3) and (4), respectively; in paragraph (3), inserted “and subsection (f) of Code Section 21-2-153” and added “or” at the end; substituted “Code Section 21-2-134” for “Code Sections 21-2-134 and 21-2-155, respectively;” at the end of paragraph (4); deleted former paragraph (6), which read: “Candidacy in a special election as prescribed in subsection (e) of Code Section 21-2-132; or”; and deleted former paragraph (7), which read: “Being an incumbent qualifying as a candidate to succeed such incumbent as prescribed in subsection (e) of Code Section 21-2-132.”

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 1983, p. 1190, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provided that it was the intent of that Act to implement the provisions of Ga. Const. 1983, Art. VI, Sec. VII, Para. I.

Law reviews.

For article discussing the impact on bond issues of challenges to voting procedures, see 15 Ga. St. B. J. 15 (1978).

For note, “Georgia’s Runoff Election System Has Run Its Course,” see 54 Ga. L. Rev. 1063 (2020).