Republicans still can’t accept that they lost the 2020 presidential election, especially in Georgia where the state turned blue for the first time in decades.
Now Georgia’s Republican-controlled government is retaliating with sweeping voting regulation changes that have been described as new Jim-Crow-like voter suppression. The voting rollbacks are expected to hit Black Georgia voters the hardest.
Black people make up roughly a third of the state’s population and vote overwhelmingly Democratic, The New York Times reported. About 88 percent of Black Georgians voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
The Republican legislation alters voting access by limiting drop boxes for mail ballots and introducing more rigid voter identification requirements for absentee balloting. The legislation also makes it a crime to provide food or water to people waiting in line to vote. Long lines to vote are typical in Black neighborhoods in Georgia’s cities.
The new law also expands the Legislature’s power over elections.
Voting legislation B 202 was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp yesterday and overturned near all of the progressive voting advances made by voting rights activist and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. Abrams has been fighting against voter suppression since she narrowly lost her bid for governor.
She tweeted about the new law, saying “From passage of the #SB202 voter suppression bill targeted at Black and brown voters to the arrest of a Black legislator who was advocating for the voting rights of her constituents, today was a reminder of Georgia’s dark past. We must fight for the future of our democracy #gapol”
The tweet accompanied two photos. One, marked “Jim Crow 1.0,” was a historic photo from the 1960s during the fight for voting rights for Black Americans. The other was of Kemp signing the bill juxtaposed with a photo of State Rep. Park Cannon, who is Black, being arrested for knocking on the governor’s door during the signing ceremony. This photo was marked “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Abrams got many responses.
“If GOP don’t cheat, GOP don’t win,” a Twitter user posted. “They’re limping along on their last leg so they’re pulling out the stops. We mustn’t let up. Now is the time to go for the jugular and act to take the GOP presence out of American leadership forever. There’s no place for it.”
Another person posted, “Keep up the good fight Ms. Abrams! Everyone else in GA – apply to get your ID’s starting tomorrow! Learn the new rules and vote! Don’t @GovKemp keep you from voting! They are running scared of your power from the last election – let’s show them we still have what it takes!”
People are fighting back. A lawsuit was filed immediately challenging the new law. The lawsuit against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was filed by groups including the New Georgia Project and the Black Voters Matter Fund, Bloomberg reported.
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“Georgia has a long and egregious history of implementing election laws that hinder Black and minority citizens’ ability to participate equally in the political process,” the groups said in the lawsuit, which names other officials as well.
