Voter information called confusing

ATLANTA --- A civil rights group is pointing a finger at what it calls "inaccurate and misleading" information that Richmond County elections officials give to groups organizing voter registration drives.

Attorneys for the Washington D.C.-based Advancement Project learned late last week that officials in Richmond County and at least five other counties have been providing confusing information on who has a right to hold voter registration drives.

A 2004 lawsuit led to the demise of a requirement stating only deputy registrars could conduct registration drives, opening the door for private groups to hold their own drives with far fewer limitations.

But information on registration drives from elections offices in Richmond, Ware, Cherokee, DeKalb, Gwinnett and Lincoln counties blurs the requirements for deputy registrars with those for private groups, said Bradley Heard, the senior attorney for Advancement Project.

"A lot of the groups were sort of intimidated, and it creates confusion out there," he said.

Some organizers might have erroneously feared criminal penalties, he said. Information from the Cherokee County elections office states it is a felony to collect voter registration applications in a door-to-door drive. That only applies to deputy registrars, Mr. Heard said.

In Richmond County, much of a pamphlet on voter registration drives mostly explained how to conduct a drive through deputized registrars under the Board of Elections.

The pamphlet gave little information about how to conduct a private drive.

Lynn Bailey, the executive director for the Richmond County Board of Elections, said her office will attempt to clarify the procedures for each method of holding registration drives.

"Clearly there are other options out there," she said.

Reach Jake Armstrong at (404) 589-8424 or jake.armstrong@morris.com.