Thread by @Saira_Fa

Think allegations of #votersupression in Georgia are overblown?

Let me tell you about the shameful performance I saw by Ga House Republicans this morning when SB463 was discussed in committee. SB463 revises the GA election code, and passed on a party line vote.

A thread.

The following amendment was offered this morning for the first time.

It precludes state and local election officials from sending Georgians absentee ballot applications-- something that helps Georgians vote safely during a pandemic, and generally increases voter participation.

Some context: When COVID hit, @GaSecofState made the decision to proactively mail absentee ballot applications to 6.9 million active voters. The idea was to remove one step from the multi-step vote-by-mail process and make it easier for voters to access VBM during a pandemic.

Before, voters had to request the app from their county or download it to access it.

Removing this hurdle had an impact on VBM participation and participation in general -- More Georgians voted absentee (and voted, period) in the June 2020 primary than in any previous primary.

When the SOS made the decision to send VBM apps, he got a lot of blowback from members of his own party. Speaker Ralston was caught saying the silent part out loud, saying the move would be “extremely devastating to Republicans and conservatives in GA”

thehill.com/homenews/state…

Ralston (and others) wants voting to remain difficult so that turnout is depressed-- to vote suppressors, the complexity is a feature, not a flaw.

Back to this morning-- the amendment to prohibit the state and counties from sending apps to voters was offered. Committee Dems had to ask multiple times who was offering the amendment- no one wanted to claim it! They know how bad it looks! Spoiler- it came from "leadership"

What’s the supposed benefit of the amendment? Some committee repubs feebly said they didn't want to flood counties with VBM apps.

So they concede there is heightened interest in VBM... and think the solution is to make VBM harder. bit.ly/2CDEI8v

If they were truly worried about flooding counties with apps, one common sense measure they could take is to not require anyone who applied to VBM in June to submit another application for the rest of the election cycle-- an option already offered to voters over 65.

Reduce the administrative burden on the counties of processing those same applications again. That would help the "flood"-- but still allow people to take advantage of voting by mail. I’ve got other ideas for making the process better, happy to share...

Rs and the SOS are talking from both ends of their mouths-when there are problems with elections, they say it’s on the county to figure out. But now they want to take local control away from the counties by limiting how they choose to administer an election. h/t @RenittaShannon

Counties have an interest in encouraging VBM to take the pressure off in person voting. If they want to send out apps well in advance of the election so they have plenty of time to process the apps, they should be able to. This would also allow them to anticipate ED numbers.

A separate amendment, offered by @BeeForGeorgia , would have made it so voters could receive a robocall if their in person voting location was changed at the last minute.

You would think this one was not controversial. You would be wrong. #votinginGeorgia

Lack of notification was a big issue in June, when polling places pulled out at the last minute due to COVID concerns. Right now, voters are supposed to receive a mailing with information about precinct changes-- but many voters did not receive theirs on time or at all.

Facing republican opposition to the idea, @TrammellBob said he gets a phone call from his local govt within 2 hrs when there is severe weather. But they can’t do this for voters to exercise their constitutional right to vote?

Hear, hear.

The amendment was voted down.

The original version of SB463 had provisions in it about reducing lines for in person voting. Those provisions are gone now.

The motives of those in power are crystal clear. While the rest of the country is expanding vote by mail to give voters safe access to the polls in November, GA Rs are taking advantage of the pandemic to make voting even harder.

I’m disappointed-- but fights worth winning are rarely easy.

Join the fight with the voter protection team @GeorgiaDemocrat

georgiademocrat.org/voter-protecti…