Name: Fight to vote: This is how Georgia Republicans are attacking democracy
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Fight to vote: This is how Georgia Republicans are attacking democracy

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After record turnout in the 2020 election, the state legislature is considering sweeping voting restrictionsThe fight to vote is supported byLast modified on Thu 4 Mar 2021 11.26 ESTHappy Thursday,An effort to restrict voting is under way across America, but there are few places where that assault is more clear, and more urgent, than in . I know we’ve talked about Georgia before, but this week, I want to dig in to exactly what Georgia lawmakers are proposing to make it harder to vote right now and why it matters.On Monday, the Georgia house of representatives approved a bill, , that would implement sweeping changes to the state’s voting system. Among other measures, the bill would:In the state senate, there are also proposals to get rid of the state’s policy of automatically registering voters and to only allow voters to cast a ballot by mail if they are 65 or older or . That would eliminate the so-called no-excuse absentee voting system Georgia Republicans – yes Georgia Republicans – enacted in 2005.While proposals in states across the country are deeply alarming, the efforts in Georgia matter significantly for a few reasons:“They are very draconian in their nature,” said Aunna Dennis, the executive director of the Georgia chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog organization. “What we’re seeing is a reaction to a problem that literally does not exist here in Georgia. These bills catch all of that. These are streamlining and rolling back the hands of time.”Some measures in the bill, like the provisions curbing early voting, appear to be a thinly veiled effort to restrict access to the ballot for minority voters. In the 2020 election, 8.6% of white early voters cast their ballots on weekends, compared with 13.1% of Asian Americans and 11.8% of Black voters, by the Center for New Data.It is also well-known that many Black churches run “Souls to the Polls” events on Sundays to encourage parishioners to get out and vote. Under the new law, election officials could choose not to offer any Sunday voting at all.“In Georgia, because we had to fight so hard to get the right to vote here, voting is very much celebrated. It’s very much a community event,” Dennis said. “We use those weekend times to do that. For those cuts to happen that dramatically, that can also decrease the will of the people to want to be a part of this election because they will see this is just so many hurdles.”During the debate in the Georgia house this week, Republicans justified the new restrictions by saying that there should be uniformity in early voting hours. But Democrats pointed out that reasoning was nonsensical because counties could still offer differing weekend days.There’s also concern about the requirement that voters provide identification information both when they apply to vote by mail and when they send in their ballot. Some voters, especially those who are poor, disabled or elderly, might lack access to a Georgia’s driver’s license or be able to send in a photocopy of another form of ID. On the ballot itself, Georgia voters who lack acceptable ID would be required to put the last four digits of their social security number – sparking concern that voters will be forced to put sensitive personal information at risk.Lastly, there’s deep concern over new limits on ballot drop boxes, which voters relied on because of concerns about mail delays. While local election officials access to drop boxes 24/7 in 2020, the new bill would only allow officials to place drop boxes in early voting locations and allow access to them during early voting hours. It would not allow ballot drop boxes to be open on election day and only allow one box for every 100,000 voters.Janine Eveler, the director of elections in Cobb county, said her county spent a lot of money purchasing boxes and installing surveillance cameras last year. She was happy the state was at least allowing drop boxes to continue, but questioned the need for some of the new restrictions.“Placing the boxes inside advance voting locations will disrupt the flow of in-person voters in the poll, so I would rather they be located outside the polls if they have to be associated with advance voting locations,” she wrote in an email. “I don’t understand why they want to limit the number of drop boxes by 1:100,000 voters.”The proposals, and many smaller bills, are still moving through the legislature and it’s not yet entirely clear which ones will be ultimately approved. Dennis added that the bills sent a disturbing message to the voters who turned out in unprecedented numbers last year.“What do we tell those voters? Do we tell them that their energy, their enthusiasm and the success of the election meant nothing?,” she said.Also worth watching …

After record turnout in the 2020 election, the state legislature is considering sweeping voting restrictionsThe fight to vote is supported byLast modified on Thu 4 Mar 2021 11.26 ESTHappy Thursday,An effort to restrict voting is under way across America, but there are few places where that assault is more clear, and more urgent, than in . I know we’ve talked about Georgia before, but this week, I want to dig in to exactly what Georgia lawmakers are proposing to make it harder to vote right now and why it matters.On Monday, the Georgia house of representatives approved a bill, , that would...

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Voting rights reporter @guardianus. Former reporter @huffpost. Listen to our podcast about the fight to vote http://apple.co/2BmP5cm sam.levine@theguardian.com

Sam Levine

TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and Guardian Unlimited, is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers The Guardian and The Observer, as well as a substantial body of web-only work produced by its own staff, including a rolling news service.

Fight to vote: This is how Georgia Republicans are attacking democracy

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