Elections changes for ‘24

A new law sets standards for upholding challenges to voters’ eligibility, putting rules in place ahead of the presidential election.

Conservative activists have filed challenges against more than 100,000 voter registrations since passage of Georgia’s 2021 election law, which allowed voters to contest an unlimited number of registrations.

The challenges target voters who might have moved or registered at a nonresidential address, but some of the challenges have forced members of the military, college students and homeless people to defend their right to vote.

Under the incoming law, Senate Bill 189, voter challenges will be upheld if someone registers in a different jurisdiction, died, or registered at a nonresidential address. National change of address data won’t be sufficient evidence to sustain a voter challenge, and challenges won’t be considered within 45 days of an election.

Additional election laws taking effect Monday add watermarks to ballots, require more audits of statewide elections and guarantee poll watchers close access.

Rental protections

Georgia legislators created minimum requirements for rental properties, mandating that they should be “fit for human habitation.”

The new state standard came in response to the 18-month “Dangerous Dwellings” investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that showed perilous conditions for tens of thousands of renters in the metro area.

But the law, House Bill 404, doesn’t define what it means for a property to be habitable, nor does it make clear what penalties landlords could face for noncompliance.

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