Georgia Passes Major Law to Restrict Voting

On March 25th, Georgia Republicans passed a law heavily restricting voting access. The law, SB 202, limits absentee voting, removes ballot drop boxes, and gives the state legislature more power over elections. Democrats and voting rights groups claim the law unfairly targets voters of color, young people, the elderly, and disabled individuals, who are less able to expend time and energy to handle new regulations. 

The recent calls for voting restriction come after the first Democratic presidential and Senate victories in Georgia in over 20 years. Senators Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff both won run-off elections, and President Joe Biden won the state by only 11,779 votes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, about 1.3 million voters used mail-in ballots.

The new Georgia law provides less time to request absentee ballots, requires ID to receive them, and makes it illegal to mail absentee ballot applications to all voters. In the past, stringent voter-ID requirements have oppressed communities of color. The bill also shortens the period before run-offs to four weeks, instead of the current nine. 

In addition, SB 202 will disproportionately remove drop boxes in minority communities, restrict voting hours, and give the majority Republican legislature more control over election offices. It also criminalizes handing out food or water to voters waiting in line, disadvantaging the elderly and people in densely populated areas, often communities of color.

Supporters of the law claim it is necessary to restore faith in Georgia’s elections. Republican Georgia governor Brian Kemp said, “I fought these partisan activists tooth and nail for over 10 years to keep our elections secure, accessible, and fair.”

Critics of the law include President Biden, who called it “un-American” and an “atrocity” at his first official news conference after taking office. Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, who oversees the African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia, said, “These bills were not only voter suppression, but they were in fact racist, and they are an attempt to turn back time to Jim Crow.”

Businesses across the country are condemning the new Georgia law as well. Major companies who criticized the bill include Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, UPS, Microsoft, Bank of America, Facebook, and JP Morgan Chase.

Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America said,  “The right to vote… is a fundamental principle in the United States… We must continue to right the wrongs of our past, and stand united in our advocacy for equal voting rights for all.”