My sister-in-law in Georgia has given me some additional information about the new Georgia voting laws which give a...
Posted by Anne Barschall on Monday, April 5, 2021
Comment on her response by another person
As Pulitzer Prize winner and former WSJ senior national correspondent Douglas Blackmon warned, the Georgia law:
1. Removes from the State Election Board the vote of the Secretary of State—even though under Georgia Constitution, the Scty of State oversees elections. It also puts the board under the control of the legislature. And the election board can suspend and replace any local election official basically anytime they want, for just about any reason—like having an honest election. In Nov 2020, that would have allowed the state legislature to do exactly what Trump wanted.
2. You can still vote absentee for any reason, but now it’s illegal for officials to send absentee applications to every voter. The law also reduces how much time a voter has to request a ballot, and blocks any organizations that help people get absentee ballots. It also requires every absentee voter to jump through extra hoops that a voter at the polls does NOT have to.
3. The new law sets up requirements for early voting—like not allowing it after 5 pm—that make it harder for working people to vote. It also eliminates mobile voting stations, except in an emergency—like hurricanes or alien invasion—and only if the governor says to do it. Also puts huge limits on local officials allowing extra “drop boxes” for absentee ballots, another way of increasing the odds of long long lines at the regular polls. Altogether, the law discourages absentee voting and makes early voting less effective. The intent seems to be to cause much longer & slower lines at the polls, which, again, will mean large numbers of working class, urban, minority, elderly, and sick voters who just give up and go home.
Another writer noted that the law also criminalizes minor administrative errors, such as having someone improper witnessing the completion of an absentee ballot. Complex, confusing rules scare off voters, especially young voters.
There was no significant voter fraud or other irregularities in Georgia or anywhere else in November 2020 or earlier. This law is an anti-American effort to sway close elections to the GQP.
More friends’ comments:
You still need a social security card or birth certificate to get an ID. Many poor people don’t have either and can’t afford to get them. If we want to solve these problems, we can. I’m pretty sure GOP officials don’t want to even though getting all citizens an ID would help in combating illegal immigration.
Furthermore, every additional step to vote, including obtaining or renewing an acceptable ID, is especially burdensome on people who are paid hourly and/or have young children at home. They may need to take time off from work (hence, lower pay); they may need a sitter for their young kids at home. Driver licenses are usually acceptable, but people in urban areas (who tend to vote Democratic) are less likely to have cars and therefore licenses. In NH, college students can't use their student ID for voting, so they have to get something else. All these steps discourage voting, especially by people who are young; minorities; low-income; and/or who live in urban areas.
Regarding Fulton and Dekalb counties, and long lines, your sister-in-law's characterization is a fiction: https://www.npr.org/2020/10/17/924527679/why-do-nonwhite-georgia-voters-have-to-wait-in-line-for-hours-too-few-polling-pl. The State of GA, at the behest of the GOP-controlled Legislature, has reduced the resources for support of voting. Counties with large populations do not, it appears, get more resources than counties with small populations. Requests from county officials to the State government have been met with no action. So don't try to blame local officials, and say it's black mayors and black city councils causing the problems. That's an outright falsehood, and continuing to propagate the myth in the face of contrary evidence makes it a lie. It's also illogical for your sister-in-law to portray herself as an expert or an authority on the topic, when she doesn't read NYT, which is one of the least-biased and most-truthful information sources there are; at least, if one avoids the editorial page (the same is true for WSJ, BTW). See AdFontes.org.
The tactic employed here by the GOP parallels the tactic employed with respect to taxation and the IRS. Voting in GA: the GOP doesn't want Black voting, so they starve the voting process of resources, so that the flow of votes diminishes to a trickle. Taxation: the GOP doesn't want taxation, so they starve the collection process (the IRS) of resources, so that the flow of tax monies diminishes to a trickle.
Just because getting an ID is free doesn’t mean it’s accessible. You are required SEVERAL pieces of documentation that are not always easily accessible. Especially to elder people whos public records may have been lost or (maliciously) destroyed.
Georgia voter ID law. Since the citation begins with 21, it's probably the new law. The best thing about this law is that an expired GA drivers license is a valid ID for voting. Many states do not allow this, yet it's the only ID that many poor and elderly people use for transactions.
If you don't have one of the approved IDs, and need to get a dedicated Voter ID card, there are requirements that look suspect: 1) Evidence that the applicant is a registered voter, and 2) Documentation showing the applicant's name and address. Granted proof of address establishes where you should vote, a US passport doesn't provide this. Military IDs may not either. Nor does anyone with one of the pre-qualified IDs have to prove they're registered to vote. So why are these obstacle created for the "undocumented"?
Note also: "You are not required to provide identification when you vote absentee by mail." That's odd. Common sense tells you that committing a crime in person is riskier than doing it remotely. So requiring an ID for voting in person but not absentee is backwards. Their reasons for this are suspect. Security on absentee ballots has always been loose. Republican states never cared much about that before because absentee votes were predominantly cast Republican: elderly, people who travel, people who own multiple residences.
https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/georgia_voter_identification_requirements2
NPR today says early voting can be on either Saturday or Sunday in Georgia- but not both. Where I live in NC there is early voting on BOTH Saturday and Sunday.
"Georgia gives free voter id's and has for years. It's insulting and racist to assume poor minorities are unable to get id's."
This is a favorite phony argument among Republicans. The whole point of Voter ID laws is to create a time-consuming obstacle to voting for people who do not have a current drivers license. These are heavily urban dwellers and the poor, groups that vote 70% or more Democratic. Creating a burden that falls disproportionately upon the other party's voters is the entire purpose of Voter ID laws.
Georgia voter ID law. Since the citation begins with 21, it's probably the new law. The best thing about this law is that an expired GA drivers license is a valid ID for voting. Many states do not allow this, yet it's the only ID that many poor and elderly people use for transactions.
If you don't have one of the approved IDs, and need to get a dedicated Voter ID card, there are requirements that look suspect: 1) Evidence that the applicant is a registered voter, and 2) Documentation showing the applicant's name and address. Granted proof of address establishes where you should vote, a US passport doesn't provide this. Military IDs may not either. Nor does anyone with one of the pre-qualified IDs have to prove they're registered to vote. So why are these obstacle created for the "undocumented"?
Note also: "You are not required to provide identification when you vote absentee by mail." That's odd. Common sense tells you that committing a crime in person is riskier than doing it remotely. So requiring an ID for voting in person but not absentee is backwards. Their reasons for this are suspect. Security on absentee ballots has always been loose. Republican states never cared much about that before because absentee votes were predominantly cast Republican: elderly, people who travel, people who own multiple residences.
https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/georgia_voter_identification_requirements2
Articles about long lines for voting in Georgia
Wapo commentary on Governor Kemp
