On Tuesday, the Senate Ethics Committee amended House Bill1464 to remove all of its proposals. This included a requirement that employers give workers time to vote early. This was in addition to a law that currently requires time off for voting on Election Day.
Georgia’s General Assembly was overthrown last year by a restrictive voter law. It reduced the time required to request an absentee vote, removed power from Secretary Brad Raffensperger, and severely curtailed the pandemic-driven expansion in absentee drop boxes. It was one of the first and highest-profile restrictive laws passed by Republican-controlled legislatures, a trend that continues this year.
Republicans claimed Georgia’s 2021 law was needed to restore trust in the state’s electoral system. Democrats, however, decried it as an attempt to prevent Democratic-leaning citizens voting.
Some Republicans believe that the 2021 law is not enough, particularly those who claim that President Donald Trump stole Georgia’s 2020 election.
Despite the fact that no evidence of fraud was found in investigations or recounts following the 2020 election, there were proposals to establish new chain-of custody requirements for handling ballots. This includes the requirement to count blank ballot paper repeatedly. As passed by the House, the bill also required that people could inspect paper ballots following an election and that only the State Election Board can accept private donations.
Monday saw more than 12 county election officials line up before the Senate Ethics Committee to testify that additional measures would paralyze them with requirements that amounted “security theater.”
Garland Favorito was a long-time critic of Georgia’s electoral system. He wanted lawmakers to go further and ban drop boxes. He also demanded that mail-in ballot envelopes with voters’ personal information be kept with the ballots. And, every ballot must be printed on a sheet with a unique serial numbers.
Favorito stated that the committee had “taken out all the good stuff” on Tuesday.
The original 39-page bill was now less than two pages.
“What happened to your bill?” Senate Pro Tem Butch Miller (a Gainesville Republican) asked in a joking tone. It looks like it’s on SlimFast.
Rep. James Burchett (a Waycross Republican who sponsored this measure in the House), did not object to the changes. Burchett acknowledged that the Senate version was “much, a lot tamped down” and said, “I appreciate their wisdom and discernment.”
Although Georgia’s session 2022 is closing on Monday, this doesn’t mean that the debate over election rules has ended.
Blue Ridge Republican House Speaker David Ralston of Blue Ridge would permit the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to open its own investigations into election law violations , without invitation from local officials. This is one of the measures that was removed Tuesday.
Opponents called the bill a “tentative win”, claiming they fear the return of GBI provisions, especially if Senate and House negotiate over vast differences in their respective proposals.
Isabel Otero, Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund said that “the bill has changed dramatically but it could still change again.” “I am aware that the House would like additional provisions.”
However, the change could indicate a decrease in interest for Georgia’s Republican legislators to pass election legislation. This comes a year after many protested against changes, citing an influx of emails and calls demanding that constituents be restricted.
Max Burns (Sylvania Republican), is the chairman of the Senate Ethics Committee. He said that he supported many of the ideas but felt the bill needed more consensus. He said that he had heard from election officials that these issues needed to be “resolved in a more deliberate way.”
Officials opposed to the measure said that they were worried about making more changes as they tried to address last year’s changes and redistricting.
They also said a rule requiring all private donations to election agencies be made only to the Republican-controlled State Election Board could deprive them of resources and disrupt relationships with groups that donate their buildings for use as polling places. Some Republicans claim $400,000,000 donated by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unfairly favors Democratic counties.
Some local election board members thanked legislators for their listening Tuesday.
“This bill is a clear example that legislators can listen to and accept recommendations from local officials,” stated a statement signed in opposition by 11 county election officials.