Georgia’s New Voting Laws are Blatant Voter Suppression

Modern-day tactics of voter suppression like that in Georgia place harmful impediments on the ability of citizens to cast their ballot while effectively disenfranchising voters of color and other minority groups. Photo by kgroovy is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.

In late March, Georgia Republicans passed sweeping new voting legislation, SB 202, under the guise of promoting election integrity in the hotly contested battleground state, but I’d rather call it what it is: blatant, anti-democratic, and anti-American voter suppression that will disproportionately impact voters of color.

SB 202, signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp on March 25, overhauled the state’s election protocols and complicates nearly every step in the voting process, enacting unnecessary hurdles and regressive limitations on voters in the state. The legislation imposes a slew of restrictions on voters, introducing more stringent identification requirements for absentee voters, limiting drop boxes, allowing for unlimited challenges to a voter’s registration, and criminalizing the provision of food and water to voters waiting in line. SB 202 particularly curtails ballot access for Georgians in urban areas and those who vote absentee, as the law limits the time frame for voters to request and submit absentee ballots, restricts the number of drop boxes in metropolitan areas, ends the use of portable polling sites and forbids election officials from mailing absentee ballots to all eligible voters. The 98-page bill also gives the GOP-controlled legislature more control over the State Election Board and strips power from Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, who notably pushed against Trump’s demands to recalculate the vote in his favor and “find” 11,780 Republican ballots. 

While the law expands early in-person voting opportunities for some voters, it places harsh limits on mail-in voting, a method favored by minority and low-income communities during the last election cycle. Election workers previously used a signature-matching process to validate absentee ballots, but now, those wishing to vote absentee are required to provide a driver’s license or state ID card. Voter rights advocates argue that this change heightens the difficulty of absentee voting for many, especially low-income voters and racial and ethnic minorities. Drop boxes now must be located in early voting locations and are only accessible to voters when these polling sites are open, thus making it more challenging for voters working late hours to submit their ballot. Moreover, the drop boxes won’t be available during the last four days of an election, a period when drop boxes are particularly useful because it is too late to mail ballots in time.

Though proponents claim this law is necessary to increase confidence in the state’s elections and root out fraud following the disorder of the 2020 count, this law appears as an almost undeniable affront to the right to vote and a direct response to recent Democratic wins in Georgia. The legislation, which swiftly followed increased voter turnout in the state that helped to clinch a narrow victory in the recent presidential election and secure a democratic majority in the Senate, will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color, an essential demographic to the historic wins of President Joe Biden and Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. The limits placed on mail-in voting and strict ID requirements for absentee balloting through SB 202 are especially likely to hurt Black voters, who utilized mail ballots at far higher rates in 2020 than ever before. The fact that voter restriction bills appear to disproportionately target Black voters and limit their electoral influence has voting rights advocates and many prominent democrats, including President Biden, citing them as the “new Jim Crow.” 

Georgia’s law is just one part of a nationwide campaign to restrict voter access on the heels of Trump’s baseless claims of voter fraud and incessant GOP questioning of the legitimacy of the 2020 election even in the absence of proof. As of March 24, legislators in 47 states across the US have introduced 361 bills with restrictive provisions, with 5 restrictive bills already signed into law. Efforts to restrict voting are escalating in many of the states where the Trump campaign alleged election fraud stole their victory, and Republican lawmakers are largely using these conspiracy theories of mail-in voter fraud as justification for stricter restrictions. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, voting rights advocates argue that SB 202’s most dangerous stipulations allow the Republican-majority state legislature control instead of local county boards of election in certifying elections. 

“This bill would give the power for (the state) to do exactly what Donald Trump wanted them to do: to overturn an election,”Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said . 

Georgia voters, along with voters in other states likely to pass voting restrictions like Arizona and Florida, face punishment because of Trump’s false election fraud narrative. Claims of widespread voter fraud were repeatedly struck down in court and dismissed by Trump’s own attorney general, and yet, this voter fraud rhetoric is fueling the passage of restrictive and regressive laws. 

“Georgians turned out in record-breaking numbers because they could access the ballot,” Democratic Rep. Rhonda Burnough said. “Lies upon lies were told about our elections in response, and now this bill is before us built on those same lies.”

Millions of voters will notice the changes to the voting process in Georgia, with the efforts of states across the nation to reduce access to the ballot box capable of disenfranchising eligible voters and dampening turnout. For college students and other new voters, proposed limitations on absentee voting, tighter ID requirements and barriers to voter registration will only discourage participation in elections. With hassles involved with voting while at college, like mailing in absentee ballots, and providing proof of residency and acceptable voter identification – which already hinders voting for students who travel out of state for college – increased restrictions will further complicate the process for young adults. 

A strong democracy demands the full and equal participation of its citizenry, and modern-day tactics of voter suppression like that in Georgia place harmful impediments on the ability of citizens to cast their ballot while effectively disenfranchising voters of color and other minority groups. Amid these nationwide efforts to constrict the fundamental rights of democracy, it is vital that students advocate for equal access to the polls and fight back against regressive legislation like SB202 that limits access on the basis of unfounded claims of fraud.