There is an emerging narrative that the changes to the Georgia voting laws aren’t really that bad and Democrats are being hysterical for cynical political purposes. It’s not true. There are some very, very disturbing components of the new laws that should make anyone who cares about democracy shutter.
Go page by page through Georgia’s new voting law, and one takeaway stands above all others: The Republican legislature and governor have made a breathtaking assertion of partisan power in elections, making absentee voting harder and creating restrictions and complications in the wake of narrow losses to Democrats.
The New York Times has examined and annotated the law, identifying 16 provisions that hamper the right to vote for some Georgians or strip power from state and local elections officials and give it to legislators.
Republicans passed and signed the 98-page voting law last week following the first Democratic victories in presidential and Senate elections in Georgia in a generation. President Biden won the state by just 11,779 votes out of nearly five million cast. The new law will, in particular, curtail ballot access for voters in booming urban and suburban counties, home to many Democrats. Another provision makes it a crime to offer water to voters waiting in lines, which tend to be longer in densely populated communities.
Below is The Times’s analysis of the law, including the specific provisions and some struck-through language from the state’s previous voting legislation.
Voters will now have less time to request absentee ballots.
There are strict new ID requirements for absentee ballots.
It’s now illegal for election officials to mail out absentee ballot applications to all voters.
Drop boxes still exist … but barely.
Mobile voting centers (think an R.V. where you can vote) are essentially banned.
Early voting is expanded in a lot of small counties, but probably not in more populous ones.
Offering food or water to voters waiting in line now risks misdemeanor charges.
If you go to the wrong polling place, it will be (even) harder to vote.
If election problems arise, a common occurrence, it is now more difficult to extend voting hours.
With an eye toward voter fraud, the state attorney general will manage an election hotline.
The Republican-controlled legislature has more control over the State Election Board.
The secretary of state is removed as a voting member of the State Election Board.
The G.O.P.-led legislature is empowered to suspend county election officials.
Runoff elections will happen faster — and could become harder to manage.
They have devolved the oversight of elections to GOP partisan players in the state legislature. There is only one reason for that. And I think you know what that is.