Georgia House set to pass sweeping bill that would restrict access to voting

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Passing SB 202, three days before the end of the 2021 legislative session, will bring the bill one step closer to becoming law as the GOP-led state legislature hopes to be successful in bringing electoral changes, as part of a nationwide Republican effort to restrict access to the ballot box after a record turnout in the November election.

The bill has been amended in the House and will need to be re-passed by each chamber after the conference. The final passage is expected next week, just before the end of the legislative session.

The legislation would limit drop boxes inside advance polling places during voting hours, make it a crime to give food or drink to a voter, allow unlimited challenges in registration and registration. eligibility of voters, set up a hotline against fraud and require counties to continue counting ballots. without a break in between. It would also reduce the runoff cycle from the current nine weeks to just four weeks.

Voting rights groups have criticized the omnibus bill, especially for its provisions that remove the authority of the elected secretary of state and give state officials broad rights, including the ability to replace local election officials.

“It will make what we all experienced in 2020 a breeze,” Lauren Groh-Wargo – CEO of Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by Georgian Democrat Stacey Abrams – said at a press conference Tuesday, The bill was approved to get to the plenary chamber for a vote.

Voting rights groups say granting new powers to the state over county elections goes against the tradition of local control and could lead to a scenario in which representatives of the State intervene to prevent a county from certifying its election results.

“Donald Trump will not have to arm our electoral administrators hard. The most radical fringes of the Republican Party, the legislatures of cities and states, will be able to annihilate electoral councils, challenge voters because they do not have the right one name depending on them or they don’t look like a voter, ”said Groh-Wargo.

“It’s Jim Crow 2.0 and those who think it’s hyperbolic need to read this bill,” she added.

The bill is part of a larger effort by GOP-led legislatures across the country to pass restrictive voting measures in key states like Arizona, Michigan and Florida. In February, state lawmakers in 43 states introduced more than 250 bills with restrictive voting provisions, according to a tally from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

House Speaker David Ralston backed the bill on Monday, following the bill’s passage by a key committee, saying it made “voting more accessible and improved electoral security.”

The law that was passed by the committee removed a provision that would have restricted weekend voting – it only allowed early voting on two weekend days. Voting rights activists had criticized the attack on “Souls to the Polls” – programs that help boost participation among black worshipers on Sunday, a key Democratic constituency.

The current version now requires a weekend vote on both Saturdays and makes it optional on both Sundays during the three weeks of early voting in Georgia.

The bill comes as Georgia’s changing demographics have made the longtime Republican stronghold a key political battleground.

Last November, President Joe Biden became the first Democrat in nearly three decades to win the state. And strong voter turnout in January helped send two Democrats to the US Senate, handing control of the chamber to their party. One of those new senators, Raphael Warnock, won his seat in a special election and will be on the ballot again in 2022.

The preamble to the bill stated that changes were needed to address “voters’ lack of confidence in the electoral system”.

The bill makes major changes to the way elections are administered and how and when voters can receive and vote. Under the proposal, for example, voters should request postal ballots 11 days before an election, rather than the Friday before polling day as currently permitted. In addition, voters looking for postal ballots should provide a copy of their ID or Georgian driver’s license number or state ID card both to apply for and return the ballot. It would also ban the Secretary of State’s office from sending unsolicited postal ballot requests, as it did before the 2020 primaries due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A similar bill, HB 531, is currently being drafted in the Georgia Senate and is expected to be voted on to the ground in the coming days. The bill, about half the length of SB 202, is much less comprehensive and has marked differences, including a provision that would allow counties to purchase their own voting machines as long as they meet minimum requirements. by the state electoral council and certified. by the Secretary of State.

CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.

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