Georgia Senate considers excusing no apology in comprehensive election bill

According to SB 241, voters must be 65 years of age or older, absent from their territory, hold a religious holiday, must constantly care for someone with a physical disability, or must work “for the protection of health, life, or the safety of the public during all the time the polls are open, ‘or be an overseas or military voter to be eligible for an absentee ballot.The bill is aimed at a Republican law backed by 2005 , undoing, which makes the absence of votes possible without apology.
The legislation is expected to pass the GOP-led Senate on Monday in an hour-long session that will also include final debate and votes on at least 11 other pieces of electoral bills. Once approved, the bill will go to the House of Representatives of Georgia, where the bill is expected to pass in the coming weeks.
Across the country, Republican-controlled state legislators rely on false lies to make aggressive changes to the voting rules. On Feb. 19, lawmakers in more than 40 states introduced more than 250 bills that include voting restrictions, according to a vote by the Liberal Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which monitors the bills.
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Mike Dugan, majority leader of the GOP Senate in Georgia, the main sponsor of the bill, said during the introduction of the legislation in February that limiting absenteeism is necessary to reduce the cost of processing ballot papers. relieve local election workers and increase the certainty that the absentee. ballot papers are counted.

“All we are trying to do here is make sure we can afford it, that the offices can manage it and that the voters are sure that their votes are really counted,” Dugan said.

Senate President Butch Miller, also a Republican, told CNN that the legislation aims to increase confidence in the peach state’s electoral system after the 2020 election.

“I want every legitimate vote to be counted in a timely and accurate manner, and I want better access for all voters. Even those of us who have never claimed that the election was stolen acknowledge that voters have confidence in the legitimacy of the “We need to work. We need to work to repair it,” Miller told CNN in an email.

The bill also creates identity requirements for requesting an absent ballot, and requires anyone who does not have a state identification or driver’s license to submit a copy of an approved form of ID when requesting an absent ballot, as well as when they submit their absent ballot.

The bill would also introduce a voter phone call to the State Attorney for complaints and allegations of voter intimidation and illegal election activities, and require Georgia to participate in a multi-state voter registration system to cross the electoral roll. restricts the use of mobile polling stations, requires a court order for the extension of voting hours, and will authorize the legislature to temporarily block any change in emergency rule arrangements, under a number of changes in electoral law.

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Democratic lawmakers in Georgia denounced the legislation as a setback for the record turnout of the 2020 election and the end of January, which made the state blue with President Joe Biden the first Democrat to win the Peach State presidential election won in almost three decades. And Georgia voters also elected two Democrats to the Senate in January.

“They (Republicans) passed this law. They did not use it. The Democrats did it. The GOP lost. And so they want to change the laws again now,” said Democratic Caucus President Gloria Butler. , said. CNN.

Voting rights activists say the bill will create additional barriers that will restrict “freedom to vote” while GOP officials continue unfounded allegations of voter fraud.

“This is a two-way battle we are currently working on: to return against this extremely dangerous disinformation and on the voting front itself to make sure that these regressive bills are not codified in legislation,” said Poy Winichakul, staff lawyer. for the SPLC Action Fund.

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1, also known as the “For the People Act,” a comprehensive bill on government, ethics and elections aimed at countering Republican efforts to restrict voting access . The legislation prevents states from restricting the ability to vote by mail, and among other things calls on states to use independent redistribution commissions to create district boundaries of Congress.
On Sunday, Biden signed an executive order extending access to suffrage and ordering the heads of all federal agencies to submit proposals to their respective agencies to promote voter registration and participation within 200 days, while states assisted in the registration of voters under the National Register of Voters Act.

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