The project was amended in the Chamber and will need to be approved in each chamber again after the conference. Final approval is expected next week, just before the end of the legislative session.
The legislation would limit inboxes to early polling places during voting hours, make the act of giving a voter food or drinks a misdemeanor, allow unlimited voter registration and eligibility challenges, create a direct hotline for fraud and require that counties continue to count the votes without a pause in the middle. It would also reduce the flow cycle from the current nine weeks to just four weeks.
Voting rights groups criticized the general bill, especially for its provisions that strip the authority of the elected secretary of state and grant state officials broad rights, including the ability to replace local electoral officials.
“It will make everything we live in 2020 a child’s play,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo – CEO of Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams – at a news conference on Tuesday , as the bill was approved to be voted in plenary.
Voting groups argue that giving the state new powers over municipal elections runs counter to the tradition of local control and could lead to a scenario in which state officials intervene to prevent a county from certifying its election results.
“Donald Trump will not have to arm our election administrators heavily. The most radical fringes of the Republican Party, city and state legislature, will be able to sweep election boards, challenge voters because they don’t have the right name, according to them or don’t look like a voter should, “said Groh -Wargo.
“This is Jim Crow 2.0 and those who think this is hyperbolic need to read this bill,” she added.
House Speaker David Ralston supported the legislation on Monday after the bill passed a key committee, saying it made “voting more accessible and improved electoral security”.
The legislation passed by the committee removed a clause that restricted voting at the weekend – it only allowed early voting on two weekend days. Election rights activists criticized the attack on “Souls to the Polls” – programs that help boost attendance for black believers on Sunday, a leading Democratic constituency.
The current version now requires weekend voting on both Saturdays and makes it optional on both Sundays during the three weeks of early voting in Georgia.
The bill comes at a time when Georgia’s demographic changes have made the long-standing Republican stronghold a fundamental political battleground.
Last November, President Joe Biden became the first Democrat in nearly three decades to conquer the state. And strong electoral participation in January helped send two Democrats to the U.S. Senate, transferring control of the House to their party. One of these new senators, Raphael Warnock, won his seat in a special election and will be at the polls again in 2022.
The bill’s preamble said that changes are needed to resolve the “voter lack of confidence in the electoral system”.
The bill makes major changes to how elections are conducted and how and when voters can receive and deposit their ballots. Under the proposal, for example, voters would have to request absentee ballots 11 days before an election, rather than on the Friday before election day, as currently allowed. In addition, voters looking for absentee ballots must provide a copy of their identification number or their Georgia driver’s license or state ID to request and return the ballot. It would also prohibit the secretary of state’s office from sending unsolicited absentee ballots, as it did before the 2020 primaries due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A similar bill, HB 531, is currently in the Senate of Georgia and is expected to be voted on in plenary in the next few days. The bill, about half the length of SB 202, is much less comprehensive and has some striking differences, including a provision that would allow counties to buy their own ballot boxes, as long as they meet the minimum requirements set by the state electoral council. and certified by the Secretary of State.
CNN’s Fredreka Schouten contributed to this report.