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GEORGIA

YOUR RIGHTS AT THE POLLS

Your Rights Under Federal Law

All voters have the right to vote free of intimidation, including from law enforcement, military, and federal agents.

It is illegal for anyone to try to or actually intimidate, threaten, or coerce someone who is voting or trying to vote, or someone who is helping a person to vote. By law, members of the military, state and local law enforcement, and federal agents, including ICE, may not intimidate or prevent a qualified voter from voting through force, threat, or other action. It doesn’t matter if the intimidation was deliberate, as long as the voter, or the voter’s helper, felt intimidated.

Beyond the federal laws against intimidation, it is also illegal for any person in the U.S. civil, military, or naval service to order troops or armed federal agents to any place where an election is held. By law, officers of the U.S. military may not interfere with the freedom of any election or the exercise of the right to vote in any state.

All voters have the right not to be discriminated against based on race, national origin, or disability.

All voters who need assistance because of a disability or inability to read and write in the language of the ballot may choose someone to help them to vote, as long as the person is not an agent/representative of the voter’s employer or union. 

If you have questions or need assistance on-site, the best person to speak to is a local election worker. Poll workers are members of your community, and work for the municipal or county government rather than the federal government.

If you observe violations of these rules, call 866-OUR-VOTE, the Election Protection Hotline! You can even report anonymously. If you are voting in person, and you feel comfortable doing so, you can quietly report your concerns to an on-site poll worker. Do not approach, speak to, or engage a law enforcement officer.

Your Rights When You Check In To Vote

  • Any voter challenge must be in writing and must specify distinctly the grounds of the challenge.
  • Challenges cannot be filed with a poll manager or any poll worker and must be filed with the Board of Registrars.
  • Challengers must be registered voters in the same county or municipality as the individual they are challenging.


Challengers cannot single out groups of people for challenges, such as only challenging residence of students.

 

Your rights after a challenge:

If your qualifications as a registered voter and right to stay on the voter list are challenged, you have the right to:

  • A hearing within 10 business days of the notice of the challenge being sent to you.
    • The registrars must notify you about the date, time, and location of the challenge hearing at least 3 days before the hearing occurs.
    • The burden is on the challenger to prove that you are not qualified to stay on the voter list.
  • Notice of the decision and the right to appeal within 10 days to the Superior Court.

If your right to vote is challenged, you have the right to:

  • If it is within 45 days of the election, officials must postpone the challenge until after the election.
  • If the challenge is made more than 45 days in advance of the election, or if the election has passed, officials will consider the challenge. Georgia law requires the Board of Registrars to “immediately” consider whether there is probable cause for the challenge. If there is no probable cause, the challenge must be dismissed.
    • Under Georgia law, “probable cause” includes but is not exclusive to:
      • Evidence that the voter is deceased;
      • Evidence that the voter voted or registered to vote in a different jurisdiction;
      • Evidence that the voter obtained a homestead exemption in a different jurisdiction; and
      • Evidence that the voter is registered at a nonresidential address.
  • If probable cause is found, the voter may receive notice and the opportunity to respond.
  • If the challenge moves forward and you appear at your polling place to vote, the Board of Registrars must provide an opportunity to appear before them and respond to the challenge at your polling place.
    • If the registrars conduct a hearing and deny the challenge, you must be provided the opportunity to vote immediately and you may do so even if the polls closed before the registrars made their decision.
    • If it is not practical to conduct a hearing before the polls close, you have the right to cast a challenged ballot. If the challenge is based on your qualifications to be registered, the registrar must finish the hearing before the certification of the returns by the election superintendent. You may appeal the decision of the registrar to the Superior Court within 10 days.
  • Different rules apply if you cast an absentee ballot.
  • If you don’t try to vote in that specific election and the challenge is not to your qualifications, no further action on the challenge will be taken.
  • If your registration has been challenged because the challenger believes you are not a U.S. citizen, you have a right to present documentation of citizenship at the polls and cast a regular ballot.

Q&A: Your Rights Inside the Polling Place

01. Who can I speak to if I am having any issues or problems with a poll worker?

Talk to the poll manager. If that does not resolve the issue, call Election Protection.

02. I notice some poll watchers are taking photographs inside the polling place. Is that allowed?

No, poll watchers may not take photographs or videos of voters. This may be considered an example of voter intimidation.

03. Who gets to decide who is inside the polling place?

It is the poll manager’s job to enforce Georgia law as to who may be in a polling place during voting.

04. Who can I talk to if someone is trying to get in the way of me completing my ballot?

The voter should speak to the poll manager. If that does not resolve the issue, call Election Protection.

05. What are my rights if I need help voting?

Voters are entitled to assistance if they have a disability affecting their ability to read or mark their ballot, or if they cannot read English. If you require assistance voting, you may receive help from anyone of your choice except your employer, your employer’s agent, an agent or officer of your union, a candidate whose name appears on the ballot, or the relative of a candidate on the ballot (unless you are related to the candidate or the candidate’s relative).

If you have questions or are experiencing problems voting, call the Election Protection Hotline and speak with a volunteer to get help.
  • Call in English: 866-OUR-VOTE
  • CALL in Spanish: 888-VE-Y-VOTA
  • Call in Asian Languages: 888-API-VOTE
  • CALL in Arabic: 844-YALLA-US

Fair Elections Center and its Campus Vote Project intend the information contained herein to be used only as a general guide. This document should not be used as a substitute for consultation with a licensed Georgia legal professional. Updated August 2026. 

WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT VOTING IN GEORGIA?

Georgia State Voting Guide
View All Your Rights at the Polls Guides