By Brad Raffensperger
Tuesday, April 06, 2021
What is most incredible about what has happened
over the past week in Georgia is the speed with which liberal politicians
and their allies went from condemning election disinformation to wholeheartedly
spreading it. If we were not so used to the hypocrisy, it might have given us
whiplash.
Case in point is Georgia senator Raphael Warnock. In a
fundraising email sent soon after SB 202 — Georgia’s new voter-access law — was
passed, he falsely accused Georgia Republicans of waging “a massive and
unabashed assault on voting rights” by “ending no-excuse mail voting” and
“restricting early voting on weekends.” I realize that Senator Warnock is a new
lawmaker, but he should at least read the bill in question before tossing out
completely false claims. SB 202 leaves no-excuse absentee voting in place and
expands early voting in Georgia by mandating an additional day of weekend
voting in all Georgia counties. It also continues Sunday voting in counties
that want it.
Not to be outdone, President Biden alleged that SB 202’s
new photo-ID-number requirement for absentee ballots “will effectively deny the
right to vote to countless voters.” He should tell that to the majority of Georgia voters, Georgia Democrats, and black
voters in Georgia who supported the commonsense effort. Studies show that
voter-ID laws don’t decrease turnout. Georgia’s voter-turnout numbers and
percentages have hit records repeatedly since we introduced photo ID for
in-person voting.
In his statement, Biden also alleged that the new law
“ends voting hours early.” Even the left-leaning Washington Post agreed that wasn’t true, giving the claim four
Pinocchios and saying “there’s no evidence that is the case.”
The reality is that Georgia remains a national leader in
access to the polls.
Georgia has the most successful automatic
voter-registration program in the country. Automatically registering eligible voters through
the Georgia Department of Driver Services, which confirms citizenship prior to
registration, makes it easier for eligible voters to vote, and ensures that
election officials have accurate, up-to-date information. Notably, President
Biden’s home state of Delaware does not offer this to voters.
Stacey Abrams is pushing for just 15 days of early voting, below the 16
days Georgia has offered its voters for years. SB 202 has built on that,
requiring 17 days of early voting at minimum, including two Saturdays. By
contrast, Abrams recently praised New Jersey for having nine days of early
voting. If more access is better, how is nine days praiseworthy but 17
suppressive? Ditto for President Biden. His home state of Delaware doesn’t
offer any early voting. And though Georgia voters can request an absentee
ballot without explanation, President Biden’s home state of Delaware still
requires an excuse.
President Biden, Senator Warnock, and the other critics
of Georgia’s new law care more about whipping up outrage among their base than
talking about actual policy. If they looked at the facts, they’d discover that
SB 202 makes some commonsense adjustments following an election stressed by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The legislation moves Georgia from the subjective
signature-match identity-verification process for absentee-ballot voting to
objective ID numbers from photo IDs, free voter IDs, or other documents. I
introduced this concept last year with the absentee-ballot-request portal, and
it won bipartisan praise. With such close elections, moving to an objective
standard takes pressure off of our local election officials.
It is also convenient for voters. Over 97 percent of
Georgia’s voters have a driver’s-license number associated with their
voter-registration record.
To ensure voters actually get their absentee ballots in
time to cast them, SB 202 puts reasonable deadlines in place for receiving
absentee-ballot applications and sending out absentee ballots, and moves
Georgia closer in line with other state timelines. The massive increase in
absentee ballots last year stressed Georgia’s election system. Over 500,000
people requested an absentee ballot but showed up in person anyway. This slowed
down in-person voting and increased the possibility of double voting.
SB 202 takes steps to cut down voting lines. If voters
have to wait more than an hour on Election Day, the relevant county has to add
voting equipment or split the precinct if there are too many voters assigned to
that precinct. The bill directs voters to cast ballots in their assigned
precincts, eliminating the extra steps for processing out-of-precinct voters
that lead to long lines.
The bill also takes steps to minimize the voter confusion
that undermines integrity in elections. SB 202 requires third-party groups to
clearly identify who they are on absentee-ballot applications they send to
voters. My office received countless calls from individuals who thought they
were sent several absentee ballots because third-party organizations kept
sending request forms. SB 202 codifies the early processing of absentee ballots
to allow for quicker posting of results and more transparency. It also requires
counties to publish the total number of absentee ballots they received during
the election soon after the polls close to avoid the perception that ballots
came in after the deadline.
SB 202 clarifies that giving away food or drink within
150 feet of a polling place is considered campaigning and is not allowed. The
polling place should be a place where voters are free from pressure and
influence and can cast their vote in peace and confidence. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
there is little controversy about the same rules in New York, on which the
Georgia’s legislature modeled their own provision. Never mind that if
outraged groups were truly interested in just making sure waiting voters got
water, they would be more than satisfied with giving the water to the poll
manager to distribute, as allowed by SB 202. These groups can also just stand
25 feet away from voting lines and 150 feet from the precinct and let voters
comes to them.
The bill also includes more practical measures that will
help smooth election administration. Counties can now hire poll workers from
neighboring counties if needed and if the neighboring county has enough of
their own staff. It also requires political parties to train their poll
watchers on relevant laws and regulations.
If these things sound like commonsense solutions, that’s
because they are. SB 202 will increase confidence in our election system, ease
the burden on local election officials, and expand access to the polls. If the
bill seems different from the way it has been described in the media, that’s
because the critics are misrepresenting it to spin up outrage and fundraise off
of their base.
After the 2020 election, we should all be able to agree
that spreading disinformation about elections is wrong. Instead, the liberal
outrage machine is running at full steam on SB 202, putting fundraising over
facts. But I know better than most that truth matters in elections.
I’ll keep telling the truth about our election systems, even though I know
President Biden, Senator Warnock, and Stacey Abrams care more about money and
partisan outrage.
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