The suffrage organization founded by Stacey Abrams criticized the proposed election-related legislation passed by the House of Representatives of Georgia on Monday, calling it “one of the strictest and most anti-democratic pieces of legislation on voter oppression” in the country.
The HB 531 bill has received widespread backlash in recent days, not only from Fair Fight Action, which Abrams founded after losing the 2018 Georgia governorate game, but from other Democrats and voting rights organizations as it progressed through the legislature. Republicans passed the bill Monday through the state-controlled Republican House and sent it to the state Senate for consideration.
In a Twitter thread on Monday afternoon, Fair Fight Action suggested that the Republicans of Georgia to pass the bill is’ another step ‘in the direction of shifting the right to vote for the people of the state’ back to the days of Jim Crow ‘.
HB 531 “is a dangerous attempt to withdraw the right to vote, leading to longer lines and more restrictive rules for absentee ballots, while restricting the weekend’s votes and threatening the privacy of Georgians by creating opportunities for identity theft just to ‘ to request consent, “the organization tweeted. In addition to saying that the proposed legislation would complicate the vote for colored people, the group’s Twitter thread also suggested that it would require tax increases to meet the set requirements.
The bill “does nothing but harm voters and incite conspiracy theories to undermine our democratic institutions,” Fair Fight Action tweeted.
WIRE: Today, Republicans of Georgia House took another step to return voting rights in Georgia to the days of Jim Crow and forced through # HB531, forward on one of the strictest and most anti-democratic pieces of legislation on voter oppression in the country. #gapol
– Fair Fight (@fairfightaction) March 1, 2021
One of the sponsors of the bill is State Representative Barry Fleming of the 121st District of Georgia, who was appointed earlier this year as the new chair of the House’s special committee on electoral integrity. Fleming told GPB News the bill was “designed to begin to restore the confidence of our voters in our electoral system” after the 2020 election and said it was also trying to reduce the confusion over voting by “more uniform voting times” to set up all over the world. state.
VIRGINIE KIPPELEN / AFP via Getty Images
Georgia has become a focal point of the 2020 election cycle, as polls showed then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden in a tough race with then-President Donald Trump. Biden eventually won Georgia and turned the state from red to blue for the first time in 1992 in a presidential race. Allegations of voter fraud have led some to question the outcome of the election in Georgia and other warring states, although the allegations have been widely denied and Biden’s victory has finally been certified in Congress.
Among the criticisms leveled at HB 531 is that it would restrict early voting and place additional restrictions on absentee ballots, against which ACLU of Georgia’s political director Christopher Bruce spoke during a rally on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol ahead of Monday’s House vote.
“Every lawful Georgian who wants to vote, to make his voice heard, must be able to do so with ease. But HB 531 does not reflect the purpose,” Bruce said in his prepared remarks for Monday’s rally. “The bill introduces new barriers to entry each time and provides a large part of Georgia’s existing voting infrastructure.”
Georgia Democrats also spoke out against the legislation on Monday, saying it would “threaten millions of voters in Georgia to go to the polls.”
According to U.S. Attorney General Nikema Williams of Georgia, who is the chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, the bill in the Georgia House marked a ‘dark, dark day’ for the state.
“Republicans voted as a caucus to carry out the most conspicuous racist attacks on the South’s suffrage since Jim Crow, after losing in an electoral system they planned, built and oversaw,” Williams said in a statement. statement said. “Let history show that instead of fighting for our democracy, these cowards betrayed the voters of Georgia, brought out the truth and facts and tried to undo Georgia’s legacy as a home for civil rights and accessible elections. make.
Newsweek Fleming’s office reached for comment, but did not receive a timely response for publication.