Voter Registration Survey

PINES libraries will keep records of voter registration and declination electronically within the PINES user record. Each time a user record is created or modified, a patron must be asked if he/she wishes to register to vote, and his/her decision must be recorded in the designated field.

PINES libraries should include the following question on the PINES card application: If you aren’t registered to vote, would you like to register to vote here today? Select one:

I am already registered to vote

I want to register to vote

I do not want to register to vote

I do not wish to register to vote, but will take a registration form home

I am not eligible to vote

All public libraries are required to keep this information for two (2) years by the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Georgia public libraries must continue to follow all rules and requirements of the Motor Voter Act as specified by the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office.

Mailing in Voter Registration Applications

To ensure timely processing of applications, completed voter registration applications must be mailed to the Secretary of State's office:

LIBRARIES ARE REQUIRED TO MAIL ANY COMPLETED VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICATIONS WEEKLY. THE EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE IS DURING THE 15 DAYS PRIOR TO ANY REGISTRATION DEADLINE WHEN SUBMITTAL OF ANY COMPLETED APPLICATIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE ELECTIONS OFFICE MUST BE MADE DAILY.

Election calendars can be found at: http://www.sos.ga.gov/page/elections-and-voter-registration-calendars

If you do not have any completed applications, you do not need to submit anything to the Secretary of State’s office.

Mail the applications in the pre-paid envelope provided by the Secretary of State's office. You may either include a daily recap sheet (or similar agency identifying sheet) with your submittal, or you may print or stamp the following on the pre-paid envelope:

Supervisor and Facility Name

Address

Phone Number

Information from the head of the Elections Division of the Secretary of State's office given to the State Librarian:If an individual registering to vote does not have ID, you should accept the registration and submit it. The best practice is to take whatever they give you; it is their responsibility, not yours, to ensure proper completion of the form and presentation of ID. The county registration office will flag the account, and the voter will be required to show ID upon first instance of voting.

Reporting Registration and Declination Numbers

The Secretary of State's web page for Public Libraries is currently down. The Agency Recap Form can be accessed here. For any other order requests (e.g., Voter Registration Forms), please feel free to reach out to Rachell Simmons directly through email. Her information is included below.

As of May 2022, the Secretary of State's Office advised that libraries must report numbers for those registering to vote and those declining - whether or not these reports are submitted with voter registration forms - using the Agency Recap Form furnished by the Secretary of State’s Office. These numbers should be reported weekly, except in the period beginning 15 days prior to the registration deadlines when they must be reported daily. When reporting weekly, the recap forms can be sent on Mondays for the previous week. There are two options for reporting this information:

Libraries can mail the Agency Recap Form to the Secretary of State's Office. If you are submitting the recap form with voter registration forms, please use this option.

Libraries may e-mail the Agency Recap Form to Rachell Simmons at rsimmons@sos.ga.gov. (Rachell can be reached by phone at 470-312-2755 if you have questions.)

If you have no registrations or declinations to report for the week, you do not need to send in a recap form.

If you wish to pull the numbers from the PINES database, you can use this report in PINES Quick Reports:

Quick Reports > Patrons > Voter Registration Survey Responses

After running the report, you can filter for “Declined to register” to determine the declination count and “Registered today” to determine the registration count.

Click here for a quick video on running the report.