GEORGIA – Stacey Abrams’ voting rights group enacted a multimillion-dollar ad campaign Tuesday, calling out Republican bills it says are designed to suppress voting in Georgia, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported.
Why it matters: Republicans in battleground states like Georgia are “adding barriers to mail-in and early voting” — both of which helped President Biden win the state in November and assisted Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in taking the two Ga. seats that gave Democrats balance of power in the Senate, according to AP.
- Per the public policy group the Brennan Center for Justice, 33 states have “introduced, prefiled, or carried over 165 restrictive bills this year.”
Driving the news: Georgia’s Republican-controlled Senate voted along party lines Tuesday in favor of a proposed law requiring more identification for absentee voting — the first in a “raft of elections legislation,” the AJC notes.
- Republican state Rep. Barry Fleming filed a bill last Thursday that would end Sunday voting, require ID for absentee ballots and limit drop boxes.
- He says the bill “creates more uniformity to guide counties to run elections and restores confidence in the election system,” the Georgia Recorder reports.
- But NPR notes Fleming’s plan would reduce the timelines for Georgia voters to request absentee ballots and for county officials to send them out.
Of note: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said last December while continuing to push back on former President Trump’s baseless elections fraud claims that no-excuse absentee voting “opens the door to potential illegal voting,” per AP.
What they’re saying: The Fair Fight Action ad focuses on voting by mail, which the group notes Georgians of both parties have used as a method for decades.
