New voting restrictions were signed into law by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp powered by a vote of 34–20 by state senate. Popular politico Stacey Abrams released a statement calling this new law “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Last year’s controversial presidential election was won by the Democrats largely because of Georgia, a traditionally red state that went blue and was instrumental in securing a win for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The state also sent two Democrats to Senate.
Stacey Abrams who lost to Brian Kemp in 2018, was a major player in increasing voter turnout and fighting suppression through her organization Fair Fight.
This new legislation is going to include: strict voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, and it will also empower state officials to take control of election boards. When Kemp ran against Abrams, he was also the state’s chief election officer.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. said on Thursday that Kemp is “sitting in Stacey Abram’s chair.”
Ballot drop boxes will be limited, and it will also be a crime to give voters food and water as they wait in line.
Calling the law “despicable,” Warren says the new legislation is going to take Georgia back to “Jim Crow,” and is urging the senate to pass the #ForThePeople Act (also known as House Resolution 1) and John Lewis Voting Rights Act immediately.
#ForThePeople is sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., and co-sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
With Georgia becoming a swing state, along with Donald Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud, this legislation will directly impact Black voters. Potentially in a close election the new law will empower government officials to vote on behalf of the people.
Popular polling company TargetSmart claims the new law is considered unpopular throughout the state. They report that 76 percent of Georgia voters are against a provision that would allow for the stripping of authority from the secretary of state and local election officials — while 77 percent of voters are adamantly against the idea that providing food and water to voters waiting in lines should be an arrestable offense.
Of the Jim Crow reference, voter suppression was most prominent in the 50s and 60 in southern states — including (and especially), Georgia. In film and documentaries, suppression was famously portrayed through exams that Black voters were forced to complete in order to register. That, and visual and physical intimidation by vigilante groups and organizations — among them, the Ku Klux Klan.
A little over 60 years later, the question then becomes, who controls Georgia — the popular vote, or the government?
Here’s Stacey Abrams’ full statement:
“Georgia Republicans’ shameful efforts to suppress the vote and seize electoral power through SB 202 demonstrate how critical the fight for voting rights remains. Every business, political, and civic leader must stand up and make their opposition to these desperate anti-democratic laws clear. At a time when Georgia ranks as the worst state for COVID vaccination rates, Georgia Republicans instead are singularly focused on reviving Georgia’s dark past of racist voting laws. And as the FBI continue to round up seditionists who spilled blood to defend a lie about our elections, Republican state leaders willfully undermine democracy by giving themselves authority to overturn results they do not like. Now, more than ever, Americans must demand federal action to protect voting rights as we continue to fight against these blatantly unconstitutional efforts that are nothing less than Jim Crow 2.0.”
On Thursday right after the vote, Democratic State Representative Park Cannon was arrested after knocking on Kemp’s door as he was attempting to go live while signing the new legislation into law.
President Biden today, made a plea to congress for legislation aimed at protecting voter’s rights saying, “This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end.”
The Brennan Center for Justice has introduced a voter legislation tracker covering new laws throughout the United States. According to their data, as of February 19, 2021, state lawmakers have carried over, prefiled, or introduced 253 bills with provisions that restrict voting access in 43 states, and 704 bills with provisions that expand voting access in a different set of 43 states.
BALDWIN will be closely following this story and providing updates as they become available.