Advocates warn restrictive voting bills could end Georgia's record turnout
By Aris Folley - 03/06/21 06:46 PM EST Georgia voting rights advocates are worried Republicans are clawing back hard-won progress made in the state after it saw record turnout among voters in November’s general election and the Senate runoffs earlier this year.
A new batch of bills making their way through Georgia's legislature are raising red flags among voting rights groups who say the state might not have seen the record turnout it did in the recent races if the bills were in place.
“I don't know that 5 million people would have been successful in casting ballots if the rules were some of the things that they're proposing today,†said Andrea Young, the executive director of American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.
The elections bills filed by Georgia Republicans in recent weeks include legislation seeking to end no-excuse absentee voting and automatic voter registration, limit early voting on weekends and the period of time voters would have to request absentee ballots, and require more identification to vote absentee.
Nsé Ufot, founder of the New South super PAC, said if any of the elections bills including such restrictions were a factor in November, when Joe Biden narrowly defeated then-President Trump in the presidential election and Democrats Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff advanced to Senate runoff races, the outcome in the traditionally red state could have been entirely different.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/541810-advocates-warn-restrictive-voting-bills-could-end-Georgias-record-turnout