Georgia’s suffrage activist Stacey Abrams testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday as she and others accused the state’s new suffrage of being racist.
One of the requirements of the law put forward by the Democrats is that voters must show proof of identification when voting by mail by absent ballot. In the past, the state relied on signature verification, but the newly enacted law abandoned it in favor of proof of ID. Sens Lindsey Graham, RS.C., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, fired Abrams over these and other safety measures.
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“My question to Mrs Abrams: do you support voter identification laws?” Ask Graham.
“Yes,” Abrams said. “There are 35 states in the United States that have had voter identification laws. In fact, every state needs some form of identification. What I have objected to is restrictive voter identification laws that make the set of permissible materials restrict.[.]”
“Do you support the idea that voting rights should be restricted to American citizens?” Ask Graham. Abrams answers, “Yes.”
“Do you support the harvest of the ballot?” Graham asked the following, referring to the use of third parties to collect and submit absent votes.
Abrams said she does support it in the cases of Native Americans living in tribal lands and not having adequate access to polling stations. She said in such cases, she believes ‘it is appropriate for tribal elders to collect and collect ballot papers and use a single source of delivery’ so that people can vote.
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Asked if she supports support for the harvest of non-Native Americans, she said that “it depends on the situation” and the type of behavior in which collectors participate. She said that “each of these behaviors should be examined for usefulness and truth.”
“Do you believe that the Republican majority in Georgia – House, Senate – is making the amendments to your state laws, do you think it is motivated by trying to suppress the African-American vote?”
Abrams responded that she believes “the motivation behind certain provisions in SB202 is a direct result of the increasing participation of color communities in the 2020 and 2021. elections.”
Abrams said she believes bills are inspired by ‘racial animus’, but that not everyone involved necessarily shares the sentiment.
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Abrams further said: “regardless of the heart of a certain person, if the effect is detrimental to the color of coloreds to run in elections, then it is problematic and it is wrong and should be rejected by all.”
Later, however, Abrams said that “intent matters” when discussing various state laws. Cornyn noted that several states, including New York and Connecticut, are more restrictive because they do not allow an excuse for absentees without an excuse, while Georgia does. Abrams stressed that while the other states need to change, they are not like Georgia’s.
The two then worked back and forth over the voter identity laws, and Abrams said she objected to laws that could be restricted to the election. She said the ID requirement for the absent ballot was unduly restrictive.
“So voter ID, sometimes it’s racist, sometimes it’s not racist?” Ask Cornyn.
“Intention is always important, sir. And that’s the point of this conversation, that’s the point of the Jim Crow story,” Abrams said. “That Jim Crow not only looked at the activities, but also at the intent, but also at the behaviors that were used excessively by people of color.”
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Cornyn then tried to make clear exactly what Abrams meant when she discussed the importance of the intention.
“So voter ID is inadvertently OK?” he asked.
“No, sir, that’s not what I said,” Abrams replied, leading Cornyn to move his interrogation to another witness.