GEORGIA – Georgia launched a new voter registration system aimed to keep track of voter information and to make future elections more secure.
GRVIS, formerly known as the Georgia Registered Voter Information System, stores more than 12 million voter records including Social Security numbers and driver licenses.
Early voting was underway in Camden County to fill a City Council Post 3 seat.
Although voters won’t notice a major change at the polls, they will be able to see and monitor all changes to their voter records online. The new $4-million system also helps election officials process voter applications and absentee ballots quicker.
Shannon Nettles, Camden County’s supervisor of elections, said the program became available in February and is a major help with the city election.
“It’s doing fantastic with our registered voters as well as those that are coming into vote on a daily basis. We’ve been able to keep up with them pretty easily with our new registration system,” Nettles said.
Elections officials said keeping track of these records can also prevent voter fraud such as double voting or voting as a deceased person.
“I think all this talk about elections not being secured and lots of dead people putting votes in, people stuffing the ballot box, I think a lot of that is hyped and accurate and essentially not much of it is true,”
In Ware County, voters have questioned the state election process. Supervisor of Elections Carlos Nelson believes the new system offers transparency.
“Once we make that change, they will be able to go online and see that the change is made. I mean if that’s not trust, I don’t know what is,” Nelson said.
Glynn County Supervisor of Elections Office sent the following statement when New4JAX reached out about the system changes.
“It’s going to be a faster experience for voters. It’s going to allow us to provide the information more quickly and securely.