Thread by @RonBrownstein

Some elements of "accessible" & "fair" per @nytimes: "Georgia has cut by more than 1/2 the period during which voters may request an absentee ballot, from nearly six months before an election to less than three. This will almost certainly reduce the # who seek absentee ballots"

https://twitter.com/GovKemp/status/1378082794824421377

Voters "will have to provide the number from a driver’s license or an equivalent state-issued identification. This is virtually certain to limit access to absentee voting.If they fail to follow all the new steps, like printing a date of birth, their ballots could be tossed out."

"It’s now illegal for election officials to mail out absentee ballot applications to all voters."

"For the 2020 election, there were 94 drop boxes across the four counties that make up the core of metropolitan Atlanta: Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett. The new law limits the same four counties to a total of, at most, 23 drop boxes."

"There won’t just be fewer drop boxes. Instead of 24-hour access outdoors, the boxes must be placed indoors at government buildings and early-voting sites and will thus be unavailable for voters to drop off their ballots during evenings and other nonbusiness hours."

"Last year, Fulton County had 2 recreational vehicles that traversed the county during early voting, effectively bringing polling sites to people at churches, parks and public libraries. GA has now outlawed this practice, unless the governor declares a state of emergency"

The law "effectively bars third-party groups or anyone else who is not an election worker from providing food and water to voters waiting in line. Long lines for voting in GA are often found in the poorer, densely populated communities that tend to vote Democratic."

Voters who show up at wrong precinct today can "vote with provisional ballots. This provision removes even that remedy for voters who arrive at the wrong precinct before 5 p.m., requiring them to instead travel to the correct precinct or risk being disenfranchised."

"Of the 11,120 provisional ballots that were counted in the 2020 presidential election, Mr. Biden won 64 percent and Mr. Trump took 34 percent"

"Previously, a judge could order that a precinct stay open for as long as necessary based on a problem that had hindered voting...The new provision requires any relief period to match exactly the amount of time that people were unable to vote."

The law creates "a new chair of the State Election Board. Previously, the secretary of state had served in that role.
The law dictates that the newly created chair be “nonpartisan,” but the position is appointed through the partisan legislature."

"Now the State Election Board, newly influenced by the partisan Legislature, will have the power to suspend county election officials. ...In the event of a suspension, the State Election Board would name a temporary replacement."