News 12 at eleven o'clock -- Wednesday, September 1, 2010

RICHMOND COUNTY, Ga. --- Richmond County is gearing up for a busy election season, and this year, Georgia will be taking a closer look at who's registering.

Thousands of names are already on file at the Richmond County Board of Elections office. And they're steadily adding more.

"We've got the governor's race, the US Senate race, the mayor's race in the city of Augusta, five commissioners, five school board members, Supreme Court justices. So it's a big ballot," says executive director Lynn Bailey.

And that means a big turnout. Already the cards are coming in; the office receives as many as 60 voters a week.

"It's very simple. You get the form, you fill it out, you send it to us," Bailey says.

But what happens afterward can be a little more complicated. Georgia now joins Arizona as the only two states checking US citizenship through driver's license and social security records.

That means if someone who registers comes back as a non-citizen, they will have to provide paperwork to prove they can vote. That could be anything from a birth certificate to naturalization papers.

"Just for the handful of voters whose citizenship is in question, those are the people that will have to go a further step and provide documentation," Bailey says. "Voters, for the most part, won't see a big change in the way they do business."

Dr. Charles Smith and the NAACP are working to make sure that's the case.

"It may disenfranchise some people, but we hope not. Our job is to try and ensure that they have their paperwork in order," he says, referring to those who may need additional documentation.

Critics say the new guidelines may discourage potential voters who believe they have to provide that extra documentation just to register.

"But our job is to educate them and to let them know it's important to be there," Dr. Smith says. "Don't ever stay at home, don't ever feel left out."

Lynn Bailey says it's all to make sure people who vote do so legally.

"I think it's a very valid and right thing we're doing, making sure people are in fact US citizens before allowing them to cast a vote in the state of Georgia."

Bailey says of the 101,000 registered voters in Richmond County, no more than 15 or 16 have returned with citizenship in question. And of those, most were able to provide proper documentation to vote.

The deadline to register in the November election is October 4th. To register, you must fill out a form, sign it and either mail or hand deliver it to the Board of Elections office. Forms can be printed online or picked up at the office.

The Richmond County Board of Elections is located at 530 Greene Street on the first floor of the Municipal Building.