Georgia Legislative Watch

Ballot Access News has this on SB 86, which passed last night, and HB 848, which was introduced after Crossover Day but will be taken up next year:

The Georgia legislature adjourned Friday night, April 3, a few minutes before midnight. On the last day the House passed SB 86. It requires people who are registering to vote to submit either a birth certificate or, if the person was born in a foreign country, documents showing the person was born a citizen, or naturalization documents.

Although a great deal of work was done in the last six months to find a sponsor for Georgia ballot access reform, no bill was introduced in the 2009 session.

On the last day of the session, HB 848 was introduced, to move the presidential primary from February to March. Of course the bill could not be acted upon, having been introduced so late, but the bill will be introduced again in 2010. The Democratic National Committee hopes to move all presidential primaries and caucuses that choose delegates from February to March, except for the four states that have special permission to be earlier than March.

Actually, a sponsor for ballot access reform was found, but he never quite got around to introducing it.