Gwinnett County Solicitor Brian Whiteside said Monday that he does not intend to prosecute people who distribute food or water to people in line to vote, in defiance of a recently passed law.
Whiteside, a Democrat, said in and interview that he was “not going to be part of” punishing people for sharing food or water in long voting lines.
“It’s unjust to criminalize giving someone some water,” he said. “The state law is not constitutional, what they did.”
Gov. Brian Kemp late last month signed into law a vast rewrite of Georgia’s elections rules. One provision prohibits members of the public from distributing food or water to voters.
In a press release, Whiteside said the provision that makes it a misdemeanor to give away food or water within 150 feet of the outer edge of a polling place or within 25 feet of any voter in line has “no rational, legal basis.”
