Tomorrow there will be a committee hearing on #SB202, which would restrict Georgians’ freedom to vote, criminalize giving water to voters in long lines, and allow GOP takeovers of local election offices. And voters can’t even read it- the bill still isn’t available online. #gapol
GEORGIANS: call and demand these legislators OPPOSE #SB202:
Speaker David Ralston: 404-656-5020
Barry Fleming: 404-656-5125
Alan Powell: 404-463-3793
Jan Jones: 404-656-5072
Chuck Martin: 404-656-5146
Lynn Smith: 404-656-7149
Bonnie Rich: 404-656-5087 #gapol
GEORGIANS: call and demand these legislators OPPOSE #SB202:
Houston Gaines: 404-656-0298
Rick Williams: 404-656-0254
Shaw Blackmon: 404-463-7853
Buddy Deloach: 404-656-0178 #gapol
JUST NOW: GOP state legislators voted #SB202 out of committee. SB 202 would restrict voters' freedoms and access, as well as giving GOP legislators the unprecedented power to remove and replace entire local boards of elections and take control of the State Election Board. #gapol
Endorsed by @SpeakerRalston, #SB202 would ban Souls to the Polls and weekend voting in runoff elections. In the recent US Senate runoffs, not only were Black voters disproportionately likely to vote on weekends, on 3 out of 4 days, Black voters OUTPERFORMED white voters. #gapol
#SB202 would also criminalize giving water to voters in long lines, and expand opportunities for far-right actors to challenge and intimidate voters. It attacks every aspect of voting access. #gapol
THREAD: Today, 3 days after Barry Fleming dropped a surprise substitute to #SB202, a 94-page mess and the worst anti-voting bill in Georgia, it’s STILL not available online. See for yourself ⬇️ - this is disgraceful and unacceptable. #gapol legis.ga.gov/legislation/59…
#SB202 combines the worst of #SB241 and #HB531 - limiting weekend voting, criminalizing giving food and drink to voters waiting in long lines, new ID requirements - and adds dangerous new provisions to allow the GOP-led legislature to take over county boards of elections. #gapol
#SB202 attacks voting rights from every angle. Plus, Barry Fleming and the GA GOP are trying to push it through without the public seeing it: despite the bill not even being available online, Fleming indicated he could try to force a vote on it as soon as MONDAY. #gapol
HAPPENING NOW: Georgia House Republicans led by Rep. Barry Fleming are rushing out a 93-page substitute to SB 202 right before a key committee meeting to try and ram through their anti-voting agenda as part of their unconstitutional attacks on Georgians’ voting rights. #gapol
The substitute not only includes a false and misleading preamble promoting the Big Lie and conspiracy theories, but also mirrors their similarly disastrous assaults on the right to vote, #HB531 and #SB241 - with whole sections copied and pasted into the SB 202 substitute. #gapol
The new bill would lead to longer lines, restrict vote by mail, and more. It also grants the state legislature unprecedented power over elections and the State Election Board while stripping voters of representation. #gapol
THREAD: As the nation remembers #BloodySunday and the violent scenes on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, Republicans in state legislatures are fighting to resurrect the dark history of Jim Crow, and Georgia is on the front lines of GOP voter suppression. #gapolbrennancenter.org/our-work/resea…
From attempts to criminalize those handing out food and water to voters waiting in long lines, to efforts dismantle the Black church tradition of Souls to the Polls, these bills, like those in the era of Bloody Sunday, are targeting Black and brown voters. nytimes.com/2021/03/06/us/…
Advocates, voters, and faith leaders are speaking out against bills like #HB531 and #SB241 that prolong an age-old legacy of racist voter suppression. On the anniversary Bloody Sunday, the urgency of passing #HR1 and #HR4 cannot be overstated. ajc.com/opinion/opinio…
THREAD: Today, Georgia House Republicans took yet another step to send voting rights in Georgia back to the days of Jim Crow and forced through #HB531, moving forward on one of the strictest and most anti-democratic pieces of voter suppression legislation in the country. #gapol
#HB531 is a dangerous attempt to roll back voting rights, leading to longer lines and more restrictive rules for absentee ballots while limiting weekend voting and threatening Georgians’ privacy by creating opportunities for identity theft just to request a mail-in ballot. #gapol
These blatantly anti-democratic provisions would add extra hurdles for voters of color and marginalized communities -- along with Republican voters who have relied on voting by mail to win states like Florida and Ohio. #HB531 will harm Georgia voters. #gapol
THREAD: Georgia now has TWO of the worst voter suppression bills in the nation moving quickly through our legislature: #SB421 and #HB531. #SB241 would end no-excuse mail voting, implement new ID requirements, and add witness requirements for mail voters. #gapol
Today #HB531 passed out of committee- it would restrict dropbox access, add new ID requirements for mail voting, force counties to choose between offering some Saturday OR Sunday voting, and more. The GOP-led GA legislature is unrelenting in their attacks on voting rights. #gapol
Not only are these ID and witness restrictions suppressive and unnecessary, they are outwardly discriminatory, and would have a disparate impact on Black and other minority voters across our state, as well as older voters and voters in single-person households. #gapol