The secret Heritage video exposed by @ariberman makes abundantly clear what we’ve known all along: despite what Brian Kemp, Barry Fleming, and GOP officials across the country have said, #SB202 and other anti-voting bills are part of a nationwide GOP-led attack on voting rights.
This attack has been engineered by the far-right Heritage Foundation to disenfranchise voters of color in response to the Big Lie surrounding the 2020 election.
Heritage is, at this very moment, conspiring with Republican state legislators in states like Texas, where voter suppressors are finalizing bills behind closed doors.
The Heritage-inspired bills across the country reflect a cynical strategy to suppress the vote and appease conspiracy theorists based on the false notion of widespread voter fraud.
As Republicans try to defend #SB202, county officials are decrying how the voter suppression bill will reduce voting access and increase cost to taxpayers. The latest criticism comes from Gwinnett, where drop boxes will be reduced from 23 to 6. #gapolgwinnettdailypost.com/local/gwinnett…
Gwinnett County is Georgia’s second-largest county and one of the most diverse in the state. The provisions in this bill disproportionately burden voters of color, who heavily relied on access to absentee voting and ballot drop boxes to cast their votes in 2020 and 2021.
As Gwinnett’s elections director notes, #SB202 also imposes restrictive ID requirements for absentee ballots and limits the timeframe for requesting absentee ballots.
The result? Gwinnett will need to buy more voting machines and split precincts at taxpayer expense.
HYPERCRIMINALIZATION: Georgia's new law codifies mass disenfranchisement and further expands criminalization policy in the voting process. 2/13
POWER GRAB: Georgia's new law removes significant power from the Secretary of State and gives the GOP-led, gerrymandered state legislature majority control of the State Election Board. 3/13
THREAD: New polling shows that Georgia Republicans’ voter suppression bill #SB202 just passed in the House isn’t just an anti-democratic power grab -- its key provisions are also overwhelmingly opposed by Georgians. ⬇️ 1/ #gapoldrive.google.com/file/d/1ZY8qb_…
Nearly 8-in-10 Georgians -- including more than 6-in-10 Republicans -- oppose #SB202 plan to criminalize the handing out of food and water to people standing in line waiting to vote. 2/ #gapol
3/4 of GA voters oppose #SB202 plan to allow the state legislature to take election authority away from local elections officials, counties, and the Secretary of State. Over 70% of Republicans also oppose this plan. 3/ #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
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
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