ATLANTA — Yet another day closer to Crossover and Georgia Republicans are continuing to fall apart over their own extreme and reckless plans to end no-excuse absentee voting as proposed by their hastily forced-through SB 241.
Yesterday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger became the latest GOP official scrambling to choose sides and save his political hide as he backed ending no-excuse absentee voting—before immediately trying to cover for himself by predicting it wouldn’t pass. Raffensperger’s support of this radical and anti-democratic provision as part of a legislative push he’s already called “reactionary” not only puts him on the opposing side of House Speaker David Ralston but also Governor Brian Kemp as the legislature continues to fracture over the GOP’s latest extreme voter suppression proposals.
In addition to ending Georgians’ ability to vote absentee without an excuse, SB 241 would also implement onerous new ID burdens that would require access to a printer, scanner or copy machine, creating one of the harshest absentee voting laws in the entire country and resulting in some of the worst voter suppression since Jim Crow. Republicans forced this bill through only hours after releasing the bill’s text during a conspiracy theory-riddled hearing that sought to further undermine the credibility of our electoral system.
“We’re only days away from a major legislative deadline, and Republicans can’t even settle on where they stand on their own party’s dangerous and unconstitutional voter suppression proposals,” said Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo. “These anti-democratic attempts to end no-excuse absentee voting are nothing short of an effort to disenfranchise millions of voters for partisan ends—and it’s clear even Republicans can’t fully unite behind them.”
###