Thread by @ashtonpittman

NEW: U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker is claiming that Georgia's new voter restrictions law "actually expands voting opportunities."

The Mississippi Republican is referring to a part of the law that mainly benefits rural white voters in GOP strongholds. 1/
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Sen. Roger Wicker: “(Delta) Airlines CEO caves to the left with a false narrative about the new Georgia voting law, which actually expands voting opportunities. He should be ashamed of himself.”

But does it really? (Read on). 2/
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Georgia's new law restricts voting in a number of ways, particularly ones most likely to impact Black voters.

But it actually requires rural polling places, typically in majority white, GOP-leaning parts of the state, to offer more early voting. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…

The state's large majority Black precincts, particularly around Atlanta, already offer Saturday or even Sunday early voting.

The new law will require many rural white precincts with fewer options to offer Saturday voting and encourages Sunday voting. 4/ mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…

Days before Republicans voter restriction bills flooded Georgia's legislature, the Heritage Foundation's political arm visited with GOP lawmakers in Georgia.

They're spending $24 million on pushing voting restrictions in 8 swing states. 5/ mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…

Georgia's Republican lawmakers had considered nixing Sunday voting altogether, but the final version of the bill does not do that.

Last week, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith of MS said she opposes Sunday voting because it would offend her as a Christian. 6/
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"In God’s word in Exodus 20:18, it says, ‘Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.’ So that is my response to Senator Schumer,” Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith said while lecturing Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is Jewish.

(The Sabbath is on Saturday). 7/
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(The verse Hyde-Smith cited from the Hebrew Bible, Exodus 20:18, actually says, “When the people saw the thunder and lighting and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance.”). 8/ mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…

“Black Christians who go to church on Sunday morning & then go vote afterwards ... can determine what honors the Sabbath and satisfies their religious duties for themselves—they don’t need Cindy Hyde-Smith to do it for them," says @JemarTisby. 9/
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Notably, Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith took the oath of office for her current term in office on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2021.

She also has a history of holding campaign events on Sunday. @thisislarrison has the receipts. 10/ thedailybeast.com/sen-hyde-smith…

Today, Sen. Roger Wicker is also attacking Coca-Cola, Delta and other companies like Apple for criticizing Georgia's voter restrictions. He's using the hashtag #CorporateWokeHypocrites. 11/
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Even as @SenatorWicker praises the Georgia law, claiming that it "expands" early voting, he has not endorsed early voting in his own state, Mississippi.

Mississippi offers no early voting options and only has a limited absentee voting option. 12/ mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…

A group of Mississippi voters filed a ballot initiative today to implement at least 10 days of early voting in the state. They must gather more than 100,000 valid signatures to get it on the 2023 ballot, however. 13/
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Another note: President Biden was wrong when he said the law ends early voting at 5 p.m.

It requires counties to offer early voting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but allows local officials to make early voting available as early as 7 a.m. or as late as 7 p.m. mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…