Thread by @AriBerman

Georgia House Republicans just introduced a bill to ban early voting on Sundays prior to election, when Black churches do Souls to the Polls get out the vote drives

A 48-page voter suppression bill was released by GA House Republicans at 1:53 PM today before 3 pm hearing. Democracy dying in the dark

https://twitter.com/TindallSara/status/1362480548497809409

Here is the language eliminating Sunday voting (h/t @stphnfwlr)

beta.documentcloud.org/documents/2048…

Hearing happening now livestream.com/accounts/25225…

When North Carolina Republicans eliminated Sunday voting after SCOTUS gutted Voting Rights Act 4th Circuit called it "as close to a smoking gun as we are likely to see in modern times" washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2…

New voter suppression law introduced by GOP lawmaker who represented white election board members in majority-Black town of Sparta GA that tried to purge 20% of Black voters from rolls & sent police to serve them summons motherjones.com/politics/2021/…

The bill allows early voting on only 1 weekend day, second Saturday before election. This has nothing to do with stopping voter fraud, it's pure voter suppression

People waited 11 hours during early voting in Georgia in 2020 & this will make it worse

"This bill is Jim Crow with a suit and tie" says @CommonCauseGA

165 new voting restrictions already introduced in 33 states this year according to @BrennanCenter. That number is rising every day.

This underscores why Dems need to pass John Lewis Voting Rights Act & For the People Act to stop GOP voter suppression

Why new voter suppression bills in Georgia so dangerous:

during Georgia primary voters in predominantly white areas waited 6 minutes to vote while voters in predominantly minority areas waited 51 minutes to vote

After Black voters turned out in record numbers to flip Georgia & elect 2 Dem senators, Georgia Republicans introduce new voter suppression bill eliminating Sunday voting, when Black churches hold Souls to the Polls drives. Not even hiding the racism motherjones.com/politics/2021/…

Why are Georgia Republicans trying to cut early voting?

-In Jan 5 runoffs more Dems than Republicans voted early for first time

-In November Black voters used weekend voting at higher rates than whites in 43 of 50 largest counties

New Georgia GOP voter suppression bill:

-ends Sunday voting when Black voters use Souls to the Polls

-give voters less time to request & return mail ballots

-restricts mail ballot drop boxes

-adds voter ID for mail voting

-makes it more likely ballots thrown out

Hearing happening now in GA House on new GOP voter suppression bill, less than 24 hours after it was introduced

Republicans trying to rewrite state's entire voting laws with almost no public input livestream.com/accounts/25225…

Georgia Republicans want to eliminate Sunday voting, when Black churches hold Souls to the Polls get out the vote drives

Black voters are roughly 30% of Georgia's electorate but make up 36.7% of Sunday voters, according to @fairfightaction

"Republican leaders in Georgia stood up to Trump when he sought to overturn presidential election but that hasn’t stopped Republicans in the legislature from introducing bill after bill to limit voting options after Georgia turned blue & Black voters showed up in record numbers"

Rep Calvin Smyre, dean of House, says "when you cut back on early voting it disproportionately hurts voters of color, who use early voting in larger numbers"

He estimates Georgia GOP bill could cut up to 108 early voting hours. Wow

Striking admission from GOP Rep Alan Powell: “I’m not getting into the part about widespread voter fraud. You’re correct, it wasn’t found. It’s just in a lot of people’s minds, that there was.”

Fake voter fraud leads to real voter suppression

Last year Brad Raffensperger bragged that Georgia had the "gold standard" trifecta of automatic voter registration, early voting & no excuse absentee voting

Georgia Republicans have now introduced bills to repeal or restrict all 3 sos.ga.gov/index.php/elec…

If you’re looking for exciting Friday night plans I’ll be on @TheLastWord tonight with @CapehartJ discussing GOP’s war on voting in Georgia & elsewhere

The explosion of new GOP voter suppression proposals in Georgia & elsewhere shows why it’s so important for Dems to pass John Lewis Voting Rights Act & For the People Act before it’s too late

My conversation with @CapehartJ on @TheLastWord msnbc.com/the-last-word/…

Georgia Congressional Dems @RepBourdeaux @SanfordBishop @RepHankJohnson @RepLucyMcBath @repdavidscott @NikemaWilliams write in opposition to bills introduced making it harder to vote

"This is blatant voter suppression"

https://twitter.com/RepBourdeaux/status/1363923629512265732

GA House GOP's 48-page voter suppression bill is now 59-page voter suppression bill

Changes include:

-cuts runoff elections time from 9 weeks to 4 weeks

-shortens early voting for runoffs to 5 days

Comes after @ossoff & @ReverendWarnock won runoffs

beta.documentcloud.org/documents/2048…

Really good point from Georgia NAACP president @iMajorWish: Brad Raffensperger stood up to Trump when he tried to overturn election results

But Raffensperger has said nothing about Georgia GOP bills weaponizing Trump's Big Lie by making it harder to vote

Chair of Georgia GOP's "election confidence" task force just testified Georgia should keep Sunday voting. So Georgia House GOP bill more extreme than position of state GOP

.@ossoff: “Sunday would've been John Lewis's 81st birthday. He committed his life and nearly lost his life in the struggle for voting rights. But as we speak Georgia’s legislature is considering legislation that would make it harder for Georgians to vote”

Republicans have gone from spreading Trump's Big Lie to using it as a pretext to push racist voter suppression laws in states like Georgia

My conversation with @chrislhayes on @allinwithchris tonight msnbc.com/all-in/watch/h…

Georgia Senate committee considering 3 anti-voting bills today that would end automatic voter registration, require monthly voter purges & expand ability to challenge ballots in meeting with no livestream. Democracy dying in dark

https://twitter.com/fairfightaction/status/1364247833013026817

2.2 million Georgians impacted by House GOP voter suppression bill, finds @GeorgiaDemocrat

-244,000 voted on early voting days cut

-1.3 million voted on runoff days cut

-67,000 registered during runoffs now banned

-606,000 voted by mail on days cut georgiademocrat.org/new-fact-sheet…

Watch this powerful speech from Sen David Lucas, who's been in Georgia legislature since 1975

"Every last one of these elections bills are about the election didn’t turn out the way you wanted and you want to perpetuate the lie that Trump told you”

https://twitter.com/fairfightaction/status/1364289949449785349