Georgia election bills hurtle toward passage after party-line votes
Republican Georgia lawmakers advanced two election bills Thursday, setting up final votes on banning absentee ballot drop-off the weekend before Election Day, prohibiting last-minute State Election Board rules and withdrawing the state from a voter registration accuracy organization.
GOP legislators backed away from one of their most contentious proposals, which would have required a hand count of ballots on election night. The provision no longer appears in either bill following opposition from county election directors.
The State Election Board tried to mandate the hand count last year, but a judge ruled the board exceeded its authority.
The bills advanced in separate House and Senate committee votes, with legislators voting along party lines.Republicans supported the legislation and Democrats opposed it.
To become law, the bills would have to pass both chambers before the Georgia General Assembly adjourns April 4.
“We’re not giving everybody everything they’ve asked for,” said House Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Victor Anderson, a Republican from Cornelia. “We’ve done so much with elections over the last four years. The provisions we call for in this bill are fairly common sense and can be justified.”
State Rep. Mary Margaret Oliver, a Democrat from Decatur, said Republicans keep changing election laws for political purposes, as they have every year since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
“The Republicans know they have to pass new election laws every year in order to hold on to power,” Oliver said. “It’s very discouraging to see these constant cutbacks and obstacles to deny voters’ rights.”
Both measures, House Bill 397 and Senate Bill 175, call for Georgia to quit a 24-state partnership called the Electronic Registration Information Center, which exchanges voter information between states to identify outdated registrations.
ERIC has become a flashpoint among Republicans who say it’s ineffective, but Democrats and Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger credit it for finding more than half the 455,000 voter registrations scheduled for cancellation this summer.
The bills also prevent new State Election Board rules within 60 days of an election, a response to the Republican-led board’s attempt last fall to require hand ballot counts and change requirements for certifying results.
And the legislation would prohibit counties from accepting in-person delivery of absentee ballots the weekend before an election. That practice led to complaints by the Republican Party last year.
In addition, cities would be able to decide not to allow early voting on Saturdays for municipal elections.
The Senate’s elections bill goes further, giving the State Election Board custody of the secretary of state’s election investigation reports and requiring after-hours video surveillance of drop boxes at early voting locations.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
