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Georgia state senators passed a law this week that would put limits on absentee voting, months after the reliable red state turned blue in the November election following a record turnout absent voters.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the bill, which seeks to place additional restrictions on absentee voting, was brought forward by a state Senate subcommittee in a 3-2 party line vote Wednesday.
The measure would require a reason for each person to vote as absent, such as being “absent from their constituency during the primary period”, having a physical disability that would prevent them from going to the polls or being at least 75 years old.
Currently, the state does not require voters to have a reason to vote absent.
The bill is part of a series pushed by lawmakers in GOP states that voting rights advocates say could make it more difficult for Georgian voters to vote.
On Thursday, the GOP-led state Senate ethics committee also passed a bill in a 7-4 vote that seeks to make mandatory for postal ballot requests from voters to include their driver’s license number, their card number for state identification or photocopies of their form of identification.
The measure was rejected by Democratic lawmakers who said the bill would make it more difficult for voters without a driver’s license or state ID card to vote by absentee, the Journal reported. Constitution.
Under current law, voters in Peach State only need to include their driver’s license number to apply for mail-in ballots online, according to the AJC.
Georgia Democratic State Senator Ed Harbison also expressed concerns about identity theft for voters who would have to post more of their personal information to vote by mail if the bill passes.
“I think you are trying to solve a problem in your mind. The truth is I think you are opening that door to privacy, ”Harbison said in a statement obtained by the outlet.
State Senator Larry Walker, one of the Republicans sponsoring the measure, told the newspaper that “the purpose of this proposal is not to make legal voting difficult, but to make illegal voting more difficult.”
“The public can have confidence in the integrity of our election results,” he said.
The passage of the bills comes after state lawmakers also tabled a number of other election-related bills earlier this month. Some of the bills are said to have a direct impact on how voting and voter registration is done in the state after registering a record absentee turnout in the November presidential election.
The legislation immediately drew negative reactions from voting rights advocates of the day, including Fair Fight, a national voting rights organization founded by the former candidate for governor of Democratic Georgia, Stacey Abrams.
Seth Bringman, a spokesperson for the organization, then called the series of laws a “messy set of voter suppression bills” in a statement and said they were “designed to limit access. and help the Republicans not to lose the elections in Georgia again ”.
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