It’s too late to shift stand on early voting

The easiest way to perpetuate voter fraud is through absentee ballots, because voters cast their ballots through the mail rather than in person. So if state Sen. Eric Johnson (R-Savannah) really wanted to thwart fraud, absentee voting would seem a logical place to start.

However, that overlooks a critical fact: Traditionally, Republican voters have been more likely than Democrats to vote absentee, which is why the Republican-dominated Georgia General Assembly made the process a whole lot easier.

However, the absentee/early voting option is now drawing Democratic and minority voters, a development that has caused Johnson to rethink its merits. So far this year, more than 37 percent of all early votes in Georgia have been cast by African-Americans, well beyond the typical voter turnout of 25 percent among that group. For some reason, that doesn’t sit well with Johnson.

A rankled Johnson has cast himself as a lead actor in a national GOP script making voter fraud the new wedge issue, sweeping aside last year’s favorite, immigration, and the always popular gay marriage.

Never mind that Johnson can’t offer a single instance of proven fraud at the polls. Fearful that Republican candidates will lose fair and square, he is using innuendo and insinuation to support a charge of widespread voter fraud.

He suggests now early voting was a “mistake,” saying, “Even if it was well-intentioned, we may find that we’ve opened up more opportunities for those people who are looking for ways to cheat.” He even thinks the Legislature may have to eliminate or curtail early voting, explaining that “it just opens up a 30-day period of time when, if your goal is to undermine democracy, you’ve got 30 days to do it instead of one.”

Johnson will never win a rollback of early voting. In such a statement, he reveals how out of touch he is with everyday Georgia voters who like the convenience of voting on their schedule and won’t see it sacrificed to political demagoguery

If anything, Georgia will have to catch up with states such as Tennessee and Texas that allow voting on nights and weekends and at places such as shopping malls, libraries and auto registration offices. Younger Georgia voters in particular question why they can’t vote online since they do everything over the Internet from banking to buying a car.

The ambitious Johnson will also never cinch statewide office with a platform that so clearly seeks to rebuff minority voters, who grow in number and influence every year.

— Maureen Downey, for the editorial board (mdowney@ajc.com)