News of a new 93-page project came about an hour before a scheduled hearing by a special election integrity committee in the House of Georgia, and sparked outrage from voting rights activists, who called it a “shameful” tactic. bait and exchange.
“They are attacking voting rights from all angles,” Hillary Holley of Fair Fight Action, a group of voting rights, said at a hastily organized press conference.
Earlier in the day, the committee’s public agenda described the hearing as centering on a two-page bill, dealing strictly with missing voting provisions – only to replace it with the comprehensive bill.
The unexpected move comes as the Georgian legislature rushes to the conclusion scheduled for March 31 of its legislative session. The new package incorporates elements from other controversial voting bills that have already been passed in the state House and Senate – along with several new measures.
Some voting rights activists pointed to criticism for a provision that would give any Georgian the right to challenge the eligibility of an unlimited number of voters. In the run-up to the January 5 Senate election, groups, such as the conservative organization True the Vote, sought to cast doubt on the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of Georgia voters.
“This is inviting people to interfere with voters’ rights,” said Andrea Young, executive director of the ACLU of Georgia, about the text of the new bill. “This is very reminiscent of the possibility for any white person to say, ‘That black person cannot vote’. “
Georgia Republican state deputy Barry Fleming, who oversees the committee and guides bills in the Georgia House, did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
But during Wednesday’s session, he said his fellow lawmakers would have a chance to “discuss and ask questions” about the bill. “The committee will make the final decision on what we do or don’t do,” he added. His committee is due to resume work on Thursday.
The Republican-controlled Georgia legislature has been at the forefront of efforts to set new limits on voting across the country, following a barrage of false claims by former President Donald Trump that the fraud led to electoral defeat last November.
There is no evidence of widespread fraud that would have changed the outcome of the election, and prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, are investigating Trump’s attempt to influence state officials.
Georgia’s demographic changes have transformed the long-standing Republican stronghold into a key 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 United States 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 preamble to the new bill 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. And voters looking for absentee ballots will have to provide a copy of their ID or their Georgia driver’s license or state ID.
It is unclear which of the bills under consideration in Georgia are likely to pass and be brought to the table by Republican Governor Brian Kemp. In an email, Kaleb McMichen, a spokesman for Mayor David Ralston, said it is “premature” to assume that the bill that arrived today “will be the final bill or that this would be the final version”.