On March 25, 2021, Georgia passed a voter restriction bill that will severely disenfranchise marginalized voters. The bill is formally known as the Election Integrity Act of 2021 and was passed in the Georgia House of Representatives by a vote of 100 to 75. The bill was confirmed in the Senate with a margin of 34 to 20.
The bill was passed following the electoral victories of Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both Democratic candidates in a state divided by two political parties. Their win would not have been possible without Stacey Abrams and her organization Fair Fight, which registered roughly 800,000 voters from 2018 to 2020 in Georgia. Abrams has led the fight against voter suppression in Georgia following her failed campaign for governor in 2018 when she lost to Republican Brian Kemp. Her loss was mainly due to the cancellation of over 300,000 voter registrations, most of which were people of color. Abrams would have been the first Black female governor ever elected in America.
The most recent changes to the voting laws in Georgia appear to specifically target Democratic voters in hopes of preventing Georgia from turning blue. Instead of having a six-month window to request absentee ballots, voters will now have three months. In the 2020 Presidential election, 1.3 million Georgians voted with absentee ballots, and 65% of absentee voters voted for President Joe Biden. Absentee ballots allow voters to vote early and are necessary for voters who cannot be present at a voting station.
In addition to having less time to request absentee ballots, there will also be stricter ID laws for absentee ballots. Voters need to provide a number from a state-issued ID, and if they do not correctly follow the steps on their ballot, it will be thrown away. 11% of U.S. citizens do not have a government-issued ID, and minority voters disproportionately lack government-issued identification.
There will also be fewer ballot drop boxes, and the remaining few will only be available inside government buildings during work hours. Voters will not be able to access the drop boxes during evening hours, which affects voters of lower socioeconomic status who cannot take time off from work to vote. In 2020, there were 94 drop boxes in the Atlanta area – now there will only be 23.
Mobile voting centers are now banned, which provide voting access to people who cannot travel far to vote.
The new voting bill makes it a misdemeanor charge to offer food or water to voters waiting in line, making voters less likely to wait in long lines to vote.
Runoff elections will happen faster, but it is evident how valuable time is leading up to them. Ossoff and Warnock were able to win their Senate races because of voter awareness that spread in the months right before the election.
The passage of the Election Integrity Act of 2021 was a major pushback on so much work that had been done to increase voter turnout. Unfortunately, the fight against voter suppression has proved itself to be ongoing, but the fight must never back down.
