Sen. Raphael Warnock conceded that an advocacy email he signed contained false information about Georgia’s voting law.
The email, which was sent out by the advocacy group 3.14 Action after the bill was signed, claimed the new law ended no-excuse mail voting and restricted early voting on the weekends, both provisions that were debated but not included in the final proposal.
A Warnock campaign spokesman told the Washington Post the Democratic senator signed off on his statement prior to the legislation’s passage, when those measures were still being debated.
HERSCHEL WALKER CONSIDERING US SENATE BID IN GEORGIA
President Joe Biden has also been accused of spreading misinformation about the law, earning “Four Pinocchios” from the Washington Post for his claims that the measure slashed voting hours and early voting.
Georgia’s controversial voter reforms, signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25, impose voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, gives state officials the authority to make changes to county elections boards, authorizes the use of ballot drop boxes (though there will be fewer than there were in 2020), and makes it a crime for politically affiliated persons to approach voters in line within 150 feet of a polling place to give them food and water.
Republicans have touted the legislation as a crucial step toward shoring up election integrity, but critics on the Left argue the law amounts to voter suppression for minorities. Several Georgia-based corporations, including Delta Air Lines and Coca-Cola, have issued statements critical of the law.
Others have taken steps to boycott the state, moving business out of the region. Major League Baseball relocated its 2021 All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver, Colorado, in protest of the law, and actor Will Smith announced on Monday he was pulling production of his movie Emancipation out of the state due to the “regressive” law.
Though traditionally a Republican state, Georgia has been the site of some major Democratic victories in recent months.
Warnock ousted incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican, during a 2020 special election. Sen. Jon Ossoff defeated Republican incumbent David Perdue in the state’s other Senate contest. Biden won Georgia’s 16 electoral votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since former President Bill Clinton in 1992.
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Warnock will be forced to defend his seat in 2022 if he hopes to earn a full six-year Senate term. Herschel Walker is one person who is contemplating entering the race. The former football player, a Georgia native, has aligned himself closely with former President Donald Trump, speaking on the then-president’s behalf during last year’s Republican National Convention.
A representative for Warnock did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment.
