Georgia Senate passes sweeping voter restriction bill following Dem. election wins
A vote was passed on Monday, which supports new voting restrictions for the state
Republican Georgia lawmakers want big changes in the state when it comes to voting.
A vote was passed on Monday, which supports new voting restrictions for Georgia. The changes come after the Republican-controlled Senate took a loss to Democrats in recent elections, per Huff Post.
They voted 29-20 to pass SB 241, limiting absentee voting to people 65 and older, those with physical disabilities, and those out of town on Election Day. Voters will have to submit an ID and have their ballot signed by a witness for the vote to count.
The bill would also mean a court order would need to go in place to extend voting hours, and it gives the state legislature the power to block emergency voting rule changes.
Read More: Georgia Republicans want to get rid of Sunday voting
Last week, Georgia’s House of Representatives passed HB 531, which could reduce weekend voting hours and would include the same ID requirement.
Georgia Senator, Jon Ossoff calls HB 531 and SB 241 clear attempts of voter suppression.
“One day after we commemorated Bloody Sunday, Georgia’s legislature is pushing flagrant Voter Suppression legislation to target minority and working-class voters. We must pass the For The People Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. We must defeat the new Jim Crow,” he tweeted.
The move appears as retaliation from Republicans after Georgia lost the Senate runoffs and elected Joe Biden in the presidential election, flipping Georgia blue for the first time in over 20 years.
Around 1.3 million Georgians utilized mail-in voting in 2020, which contributed to the historic voter turnout.
Read More: Georgia GOP leaders who stood up to Trump back voting bills
A poll conducted last year says voters were pleased with the voting process but wish voting times would be extended along with absentee voting laws. But Georgia Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, who sponsored the bill, claims a limit to absentee voting needs to be put in place to ensure that all votes are counted.
“Georgia has spent the majority of its history systematically erecting barriers designed to dilute the power of Black voters ― all to minimize their political voices on the issues that matter most to them,” said the deputy legal director of the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, Nancy Abudu.
“Decades of hard work by voting rights advocates across the state led to record turnout in 2020 despite the pandemic.”
Stacey Abrams has been credited with leading the charge for change to happen in Georgia but says the state flipping in its latest elections is not enough.
“Because there’s nothing permanent about the change that we’re making until people believe it’s a change they should defend and maintain. And so every election, every fight, you’ve got to remind people that they have the capacity to win, and you have to do it anew,” said Abrams to Marie Claire.
She says this is not the time to be complacent.
“One of the most successful gaslighting operations in American history has been the disinformation [campaign] about our power, and because so many pieces of our society have been weaponized against us, we’ve also been conditioned to believe that weaponization is innate, that what they are doing is the right thing, and everything we’re asking for is a departure.”
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