Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is cracking down on the latest efforts by groups looking to campaign while voters line up at polling places, with the second round of the United States Senate a week away.
Raffensperger summoned county officials on Tuesday, advising them to impose the “buffer zone” that restricts groups from campaigning less than 50 meters from a polling station.
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“The right to vote is sacred and fundamental to our democracy and I am committed to upholding that right for all Georgians,” said Raffensperger. “Political organizations seeking to circumvent the system must be warned that we will not tolerate efforts to take electoral votes near polling places in violation of the law.”
The secretary’s comments warned against political and advocacy groups using “line warming” – a practice in which volunteers distribute snacks or drinks to “support” voters who wait in long lines – as a loophole for cutting-edge campaign opportunities hour.
The buffer zone should “create an atmosphere of calm and non-interference for voters who are contemplating exercising one of their most basic constitutional rights,” said Raffensperger on Tuesday.
The “line warming” tradition has become increasingly examined as special election days pass, and not just because of the contentious nature of the race.
“Line warming” is a contested practice in Georgia, as anyone who gives or offers “money or gifts for the purpose of registering as a voter, voting or voting for a particular candidate” can face criminal charges.
Georgia’s Senate election has the country’s eyes as current Republican Party candidates, Senator David Perdue and Senator Kelley Loeffler face off in a highly contested contest against opponents Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock for not just seats in the upper house Congress, but for the control of the majority of the Senate.
More than 2.3 million voters have already voted in the past two weeks, with only two days to go before the first voting period.
So far, the participation is about 30% less than the number of people who voted a week before the general election.
Although the still promising level of voter turnout for the second round shows the level of investment in Peach State, with one voter telling Fox News “this is very exciting” and “hopeless”.
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“I think you now know that we are in the middle of a big pandemic. There are many different things that people are trying to do,” another voter, Andre Timmons, told Fox News on Tuesday. “I just think that the people I voted for had a good sense of what their plans were and how to do that, um, that was just the main topic for me.”
President Trump lost the state’s red fortress during the general election for President-elect Joe Biden. It was a result that Democrats attributed to their work to reverse electoral suppression and ensure that more young black voters voted.
While some Democratic voting rights groups have raised concerns that fewer polling stations parked across the state during the special election, they may prohibit access to voting.
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Likewise, Republicans raised concerns about conservative voters feeling deprived of their rights and skipping the ballot box after Trump’s defeat in the general election. Another concern is the president’s repeated allegations of electoral fraud, despite the Justice Department’s rejection of those allegations.
“No matter how small you think it may be, that inclination can always be one way or the other, so I think everyone should get their voice out there,” Timmons told Fox News in a polling station in Cobb County.
Robert Sherman contributed to this report.