Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, for the purposes of election contests, a vote cast by a person who has been listed on the official list of electors for a period of ten years or longer shall be rebuttably presumed to be a legal vote despite an unsigned voter registration card, so long as that person continues to meet the eligibility requirements of Code Section 21-2-216. For such a voter, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the voter has taken the oath and that the voter registration card is a replacement of the original voter registration card.
(Code 1981, §21-2-522.1, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 1027, § 16A; Ga. L. 1998, p. 295, § 1.)
Law reviews.- For survey article on local government law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 263 (2008).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Evidence sufficient to show doubt as to validity of election results.
- Because the trial court's finding that four voters in a local election were improperly disenfranchised was not clearly erroneous, and the wrongful rejection of those votes was sufficient to place the results of the election in doubt pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 21-2-522(3), the trial court's act of ordering a new election was upheld on appeal. McIntosh County Bd. of Elections v. Deverger, 282 Ga. 566, 651 S.E.2d 671 (2007).
Evidence insufficient to show doubt as to validity of election results.
- Two candidates who lost city council races by 126 and 133 votes failed to produce evidence placing the results of the election in doubt based on a malfunctioning machine that produced 60 additional votes prior to recertification of the results and 21 absentee ballots alleged to have been improperly counted. Scoggins v. Collins, 288 Ga. 26, 701 S.E.2d 134 (2010), overruled on other grounds by Parham v. Stewart, 2020 Ga. LEXIS 128 (Ga. 2020).