- Georgia’s Republican lawmakers unveiled a bill that would impose new restrictions on absentee voting.
- The bill would also end early voting on Sundays, a day popular with black voters.
- Many state Republicans are also pushing for additional photo identification rules and ballot box restrictions.
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Republican lawmakers in the Georgia House of Representatives released a broad bill on Thursday that would impose new restrictions on absentee voting and end early voting on Sundays, a day when black voters often go to the polls as part of the vote. of “Souls to the Polls” units.
Pressure for additional restrictions comes after President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in the state by about 12,000 votes last November, along with Sens Democrats’ two victories. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Senate runoff elections last month.
The proposed legislation, House Bill 531, would require photo identification for the absent vote, restrict the ballot box to early voting locations, limit its use to voting hours, and narrow the window to request an absentee vote, among other changes.
The bill was heard at a legislative committee hearing about an hour after the text of the legislation was released to lawmakers, according to Georgia Public Broadcasting.
On the same day, a legislative committee controlled by the Republican Party in the state Senate passed Bill 67 of the Senate, which would require a driver’s license number or a photocopy of voter ID when submitting an absentee vote request, effectively ending the signature verification system that was continually criticized by Trump during his various attempts to overturn election results.
A few days ago, top Republican Party officials, like Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, were unable to provide concrete reasoning as to why additional voting restrictions were necessary in the absence of any widespread electoral fraud.
“I don’t think we’ve identified a problem that we’re trying to solve,” Duncan told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think this is an opportunity to ‘update and modernize’ the vote in Georgia.”
Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, were criticized by Trump for not giving in to the campaign of pressure for elections; they support photo identification for absentee votes, but have not endorsed any particular bill, according to the Associated Press.
Georgia’s actions follow the pattern of Republican-controlled legislatures across the country, which seek to impose additional restrictions after Trump’s defeat by reelection.
Democrats and voting rights groups immediately criticized the Republican-backed bill.
“The public, the people of color, did not have the opportunity to comment or give an opinion and there is a lot of information here that needs to be digested and examined,” said State Representative Rhonda Burnough. “I think if we are really trying to restore confidence, we should work to improve everything based on suggestions from across the state of Georgia, not just us here at the General Assembly.”
Fair Fight Action, the voting rights group founded in 2018, the nominee for Georgia Democratic governor Stacey Abrams, questioned the proposals, along with 27 other groups, who sent a joint letter to top Republican lawmakers saying the proposals “would have devastating consequences for voting rights in Georgia”.
According to Fair Fight Action, 30% of Georgia’s electorate are black voters, but by 2020 that number jumped to 36.7% on Sundays, the same day that Republicans seek to eliminate as part of the early vote.
Nsé Ufot, founder of the super PAC Novo Sul, denounced the proposed measures as race-based electoral suppression.
“After impressive losses in the general election and the second rounds of January, it is no mystery why the Republicans of Georgia were quick to enact restrictions on early, absent and weekend voting,” she said in a statement. “Georgia Republicans have seen what happens when black voters gain power and appear at the polls, and are now launching a joint effort to suppress the votes and voices of black Georgians.”