The state’s new voter ID law was implemented successfully in the Feb. 5 presidential primary elections, Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel told the College Republicans Wednesday night.

“Anytime you have a new requirement, it is incumbent upon the state to do communication and outreach,” Handel, the state’s first Republican secretary of state, said at Caldwell Hall.

A little more than 400 voters of the 2.1 million who came to the polls were not allowed to vote because they lacked the proper identification, she said. Handel said about 150 of those returned with proper ID and voted.

Those who did not return to the polls were sent direct mail explaining the law. Handel said her office is considering calling those voters before the general election to make sure they are clear on the law.

“I don’t want anyone to be able to cry foul over something we did or didn’t do in our agency,” she said.

Handel said the fate of Georgia’s law likely hinges on the Supreme Court’s impending ruling on a similar Indiana statute.

“I think the next thing that’s going to happen is requirement of proof of citizenship to register to vote,” she said.

The proposal is likely to come to a vote in the next legislative session, she said.

Handel said the state’s voting machines pose no real threat to accurate election results.

“I have not one iota of evidence that there’s something corrupt going on with the voting or the voting machines,” she said.

Handel said she has asked the University to conduct a threat analysis on the machines to prevent possible hacking.

She said her day to day tasks as secretary of state are the most important part of her job. Most notably, she said her office collected $2.5 million from 85,000 companies that were delinquent in paying an annual corporate renewal fee to register with the state.

When she came into office in 2007, 300,000 companies in the state were delinquent in their fees, some behind by as many as seven years, Handel said.

Handel called on the College Republicans to support Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) for the presidency, despite his sometimes strained relationship with the more conservative wing of the party.

“Senator John McCain will always be on any given day a significantly better president than Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton,” she said. “If we don’t deliver Georgia in significant numbers, it will be a harbinger of bad news to the rest of the states.”

Handel said first-time voters seem likely to turn out for the November general election, which means election results could be unpredictable.