Legislation aimed at shoring up election integrity in Georgia is heading to the state Senate after the House passed it along party lines.
The bill, which would restrict drop boxes, require more identification to obtain an absentee ballot, and limit weekend early voting, was passed on Monday in a 97-72 vote, with Democratic opponents arguing that the proposed changes create more hurdles for voters that will result in voter suppression.
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House Bill 531 limits Sunday voting to one optional Sunday per county, requires drop boxes be located inside early voting locations, disqualifies provisional ballots cast in the wrong precincts, and imposes new identification requirements for absentee voting such as a driver’s license number, state ID number, or copy of photo identification, among other provisions. The Republican-led state Senate will now take up the bill, along with other voting legislation.
Georgia state Rep. Kimberly Alexander argued during the House debate that Republicans were promoting the changes for political gain.
“Republicans in the Georgia General Assembly are trying to change the rules of the election here in Georgia, rules that you wrote, because you were handed defeat,” Alexander, a Democrat from Hiram, said, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “You know that your only chance of winning future elections is to prevent Georgians from having their votes counted and their voices heard.”
Last month, a Georgia state Senate subcommittee voted 3-2 along party lines for a bill that would restrict absentee voting to only those who are over 75 years old, have a physical disability, or are out of town. That bill has now advanced to the full Ethics Committee.
The state’s Republican-controlled upper chamber has signaled an openness to similar absentee ballot requirements, with the Georgia Senate passing a bill reforming the absentee ballot signature-matching process in an attempt to reduce fraud last month by a vote of 37-18.
Georgia has been a focal point in the conversation of election security in the wake of recent Democratic gains in the state. President Biden won the state’s 16 electoral votes, and the Democrats won both Senate runoff races in January.
In the wake of the historic victories in a traditionally Republican-leaning state, former President Donald Trump and many of his allies alleged widespread voter fraud. During a call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump urged the official to “find” enough votes for him to win the race in Georgia, arguing that the tabulation favoring Biden wasn’t accurate. Legal efforts to overturn the results met failure in court, and Trump is now under investigation by the Fulton County district attorney’s office.
Due to concerns of lowered voter confidence in election security, Republicans argue that HB 531 is necessary to restore public confidence in election results.
“Our goal in this bill is to make sure that Georgia’s election results get back quickly and accurately,” state Rep. Barry Fleming said. “The way we begin to restore confidence in our voting system is bypassing this bill. There are many commonsense measures here to begin that process.”
The debate in Georgia regarding voting access reflects a larger pattern unfolding in state legislatures across the country. As of last month, 43 states have carried over, prefiled, or introduced some 253 bills that would restrict voting access, while there have been 704 bills with provisions that would expand voting rights in a different set of 43 states, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal-leaning law and policy institute.
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Alexander and Fleming did not immediately reply to the Washington Examiner’s requests for comment.
