Election rights defender Stacey Abrams told CNN on Sunday that a series of bills submitted by Georgia Republicans that generally restrict voter access to the state are “a Jim Crow redux.”
Why does it matter: Republicans in the state say the measures are aimed at curbing electoral fraud. They would make it more difficult for people to vote in a state that recently gave Democrats power in the Senate with a 50-50 split and turned the blue for Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
- The legislation would end the absent vote without excuse, change the ballot box and limit the early vote in person, among other effects.
- Some of the bills presented by state Republicans “appear to be directly inspired by the arguments presented in failed court cases” presented by former President Trump when he tried to challenge the results of the 2020 elections, writes the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Where is it: At least 12 bills remain after the majority was not passed in the Senate or Georgia House of Representatives before a legislative deadline, by AJC.
What they are saying: “I totally agree that it is racist,” Abrams told CNN. “It’s a Jim Crow redux in a suit and tie.”
- “We know that the only thing that precipitated these changes is not that there was a security issue – in fact, the Secretary of State and the Governor made a great effort to assure the United States that the elections in Georgia were safe,” he said.
- “The only connection we can find is that more people of color voted and that changed the election results to a direction that Republicans don’t like.”
“Instead of celebrating better access and more participation, their response is to try to eliminate access to voting mainly for communities of color, and there is a direct correlation between the use of hanging boxes, the use of early voting in person, especially to Sundays, and the use of voting by mail and a direct increase in the number of people of color voting. “
– Abrams in CNN’s “State of the Union”
Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan (R) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” program on Sunday that while “some good ideas” came out of electoral bills introduced this year by Democrats and Republicans, “Republicans don’t need electoral reform to win, we need leadership” .
- Duncan said Republicans were injured “in any kind of conversation about electoral reform” after the spread of misinformation after the 2020 election, which preceded Trump’s baseless allegations that Democrats rigged the vote.
- “We have lost credibility,” said Duncan. “Those were 10 weeks that we can’t go back to. January 6 was a crucial point for this country and for this party.”
Go deeper: Jimmy Carter “discouraged, sad and angry” with the Georgia bill that restricts access to voting