When Georgia lawmakers passed a popular election integrity law last year, liberals immediately smeared it as “Jim Crow 2.0.” Left-wing politicians from President Joe Biden to those down the chain claimed it would suppress the vote and spell the end for democracy itself.

Last month, those claims ran straight into a voter-participation buzzsaw. More than 860,000 people voted before polls even opened, more than double the number who cast early ballots in 2018 or the pandemic primary of 2020. As voting wrapped up on Tuesday, Georgia’s secretary of state reported a record turnout for a midterm primary.