A new Georgia election law isn’t even attempting to be discreet in its quest to turn back the clock in America to the Jim Crow era.
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Passed last Thursday by the GOP-led Georgia State Legislature, the Election Integrity Act of 2021 was allegedly created to boost confidence in the voting process following Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud during the 2020 election. However, the new Georgia election law is nothing more than a scheme by the Republican Party to disenfranchise Black and Brown voters from going to the polls and a move to prevent once-Ruby Red states like Georgia from ever voting Democratic again.
Under this Georgia election law, you can be arrested for giving food or water to a voter standing in line at the polls. Any Georgian may now lodge an unlimited number of challenges against anyone regarding their voter registration or eligibility. This means, for example, that a White Georgian can go to a predominately Black voting poll in Atlanta and legally challenge the eligibility of every single Black voter in line — effectively halting the entire voting process at that location. The law also imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots and limits the use of ballot drop boxes. Additionally (and as a likely favor to Donald Trump), the new law removes the secretary of state as chairman of the state elections board and gives the state’s GOP lawmakers the power to install whomever they choose to run elections (This will allow Republicans to steal elections and prevent a future secretary of state from following the law and certifying the true election results against the party’s wishes).
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The Georgia GOP initially planned to eliminate early voting on Sundays in what has become affectionately known as “Souls To The Polls” (the day when Black churches traditionally bus their members to the polls after services). However, that attempt was thwarted at the 11th hour.
“We will make a movement out of that,” Rev. Tim McDonald, senior pastor of First Iconium Baptist Church in Atlanta said defiantly. “You know something is wrong when you can’t give grandma a bottle of water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
“Black folks are not stupid. We know their tricks. We know their motivation,” McDonald added. “They are the [Ku Klux] Klan in three-piece suits. They know it’s being perceived as racist, but they are so racist that they don’t care.”
“Georgia is frankly becoming browner and more progressive, and the Republicans are having anxiety about the upcoming gubernatorial election and they’re trying to do everything in their power to stop the wave,” said Rev. Jamal Byrant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia. “You’re going to see a whole lot of first-time voters, younger voters, and disillusioned and disenfranchised voters heading back to the polls because they realize what’s at stake,” he added.
Attorney Walter Shaub, former director of the US Office of Government Ethics, also criticized the Georgia election law as an attempt to target voters of color.
“Georgia’s bill would make it a crime to give free food or water to voters standing in line for hours and hours. But we know who these politicians force to stand in line all day long,” Shaub said. “I’ve never once stood in line for even 5 minutes where I get to vote. This racism is thorough.”
“We are facing an emergency,” Hillary Holley, organizing director of Fair Fight Action said.
“Now, more than ever, Americans must demand federal action to protect voting rights,” voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams said in a statement.
By Thursday evening, a lawsuit challenging the new law was filed by the New Georgia Project, the Black Voters Matter Fund, and Rise Inc.
“In large part because of the racial disparities in areas outside of voting — such as socioeconomic status, housing, and employment opportunities — the Voter Suppression Bill disproportionately impacts Black voters and interacts with these vestiges of discrimination in Georgia to deny Black voters (an) equal opportunity to participate in the political process and/or elect a candidate of their choice,” the lawsuit states.
“They have rammed this through as quickly as possible,” said Jonathan Diaz, an election lawyer with the Campaign Legal Center in Washington. “This is nothing less than a concerted nationwide effort to restrict voting rights access to everyday Americans, but especially for voters of color and voters who are, quite frankly, more likely to support Democrats,” he added.
During his first White House press conference last week, President Biden vowed to “do everything” in his power to put a stop to efforts that restrict voting rights, saying that he thinks the efforts underway in state legislatures are “un-American.”
So, WAKE UP, PEOPLE! Your voting rights and ability to cast a ballot are under siege. It’s time to fight back and honor those before us who died for our right to vote with action!
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USA Today:
Republicans in Georgia have passed a sweeping elections bill that voting rights advocates say is a bald-faced attempt at voter suppression.
The new law imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water.
The law is seen as a win for former President Trump and his allies, who falsely claimed widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election. Trump himself pressured Georgia leaders to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
President Biden has called bills like this “sick” and “un-American.” Other Republican-led states are considering similar voter suppression laws, sparking calls for federal legislation to set a national baseline for voting rules.