ATLANTA — In a blistering editorial this weekend, the AJC slammed Georgia Republicans for their efforts to “hurriedly passed a far-reaching set of changes that significantly clamp down on voting access will bring Georgia national, even worldwide, attention.”
Calling the bill and the process of its passage “unacceptable to all Georgians,” the AJC editorial board denounced the basis for the legislation as “built hurriedly on shifting sands of lies.” The AJC also noted that “there may be a political and economic price to be paid for Georgia lawmakers’ contemptuous stance toward making voting reasonably accessible to all who are legally able to do so.”
This editorial also lays out that SB 202 makes it “illegal in Georgia to offer food or drinks to people waiting in hours-long lines to exercise the most fundamental of American rights” while placing new limits on drop boxes — and that the state legislature “now has the power to overrule local election officials — if they, in essence, don’t like the results they see.” Ultimately, the AJC noted that “Senate Bill 202 will not increase voter confidence in Georgia’s election. It will, frankly, do the opposite.”
Read more from the AJC on SB 202 being on “the wrong side of history”:
AJC: Our View: Marching backward into history
- In a cynical series of actions Thursday, Georgia lawmakers managed to march firmly onto the wrong side of history.
- The scene that played out at the State Capitol as lawmakers hurriedly passed a far-reaching set of changes that significantly clamp down on voting access will bring Georgia national, even worldwide, attention.
- And not of the kind that the capital of the 21st century American South should want. Many people elsewhere, and here — among them investors, smart workers and employers — will see these voting access restrictions for what they really are: a house built hurriedly on shifting sands of lies.
- Verifiable facts or statistics are not part of the foundation for the unwarranted package of changes rapidly signed into law Thursday behind closed doors.
- Yet, facts, truth — and what is simply right and just — could not, in the end, overcome the Georgia General Assembly’s temptation to “fix” a problem not proven to exist.
- So it will now be illegal in Georgia to offer food or drinks to people waiting in hours-long lines to exercise the most fundamental of American rights — casting a ballot in a free election. Pack away Southern hospitality, y’all.
- And, even as Georgia continues to drag through a pandemic that’s killed more than 16,000 people here so far, no longer can absentee ballot drop boxes be placed outside — under video monitoring — for voters to more safely make their choices known.
- And a state that routinely pushes responsibility — and costs — for fundamental services down to local or county government now has the power to overrule local election officials — if they, in essence, don’t like the results they see.
- We’d be remiss in not noting too that the tenor and optics of these combined, vote-limiting tactics harkens more to the worst of the Old South than it does to the modern, prosperous state that a diverse group of 11 million call home.
- There may be a political and economic price to be paid for Georgia lawmakers’ contemptuous stance toward making voting reasonably accessible to all who are legally able to do so.
- What happened Thursday should be unacceptable to all Georgians who believe in the American strength of robust political debate, letting the people or their representatives decide and all of us then abiding by the results — because we have been heard.
- The fact — not fable, or lie — is that the “broken” elections system was set in place by Republican state officials.
- All told, Senate Bill 202 will not increase voter confidence in Georgia’s election. It will, frankly, do the opposite.