The second highest-ranking Republican in Georgia refused to chair a session of the state Senate on Monday, while lawmakers considered a bill that would drastically restrict voting by absent vote.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R) left the Senate House on Monday afternoon, when senators began considering a bill that would restrict absentee voting to 65-year-old Georgians. or more, those with disabilities or those who will be out of town during the election.
In a statement to the newspaper, Duncan confirmed his opposition to both the bill and his presidency in the chamber while it was being debated. Senate President Pro Tempore Butch Miller (R) chaired the chamber instead, AJC reported. The Hill contacted Duncan’s office for comment.
A photo of Duncan posted by an AJC reporter during the debate showed him watching events from his office.
The Georgia Senate is now debating the restrictions on elections. Lieutenant Gov. @GeoffDuncanGA he is not intentionally on the ground – he refuses to be the president to an extent he opposes. #gapol pic.twitter.com/ql9DjXxA9v
– Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) March 8, 2021
At least two Republicans from the Georgia state Senate who opposed the Republican Party-led effort to restrict absentee ballots, seen as a Republican response to Georgia’s two Senate seats and the presidential Electoral College votes that turned to the Democrats were also not in the chamber for Monday’s session. according to the newspaper.
Republicans in the state tried to respond to their defeats in the November elections and the two US Senate rounds in January with a series of bills aimed at imposing new restrictions on absent voting in the state. A bill passed the state Senate last month imposing identity requirements for absentee voting.
Data from the Brennan Center published in February found that more than 250 bills aimed at restricting access to voting were active in some way in state legislatures in 43 states last month.