Republican state lawmakers took a major step Monday toward overhauling voting by mail and other election procedures in Georgia with passage of an omnibus bill by the state House of Representatives along party lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sponsored by Rep. Barry Fleming, R-Harlem, the 66-page bill<\/a> contains more than two dozen provisions including proposals to impose stricter identification requirements on absentee voters, a change the state Senate approved last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fleming\u2019s bill would scrap Georgia\u2019s current signature-verification process for absentee ballots and force voters seeking mail-in ballots to provide the number on their driver\u2019s license or state identification card, or photocopies of other valid ID forms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democratic lawmakers and voting-rights groups have condemned the tightened absentee voter ID rule, likening it to an attempt at voter suppression seeking to blunt Democrats\u2019 momentum after the party flipped the presidency and both of Georgia\u2019s U.S. Senate seats in the 2020 elections<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans have argued the change<\/a> is needed to shore up confidence in the state\u2019s election system, which drew claims of fraud from former President Donald Trump after his loss to now-President Joe Biden by 11,779 votes in Georgia. Election officials and federal courts rejected all claims<\/a> of widespread fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Beyond absentee voting, Fleming\u2019s bill would tweak rules for early voting on Sunday, instead requiring counties to pick either one Saturday or one Sunday ahead of Election Day for their precincts to be open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It would also require absentee-ballot drop boxes to be located inside polling places or local elections officials during early voting<\/a>, and scrap Georgia\u2019s free-for-all \u201cjungle primary\u201d format for special elections that places all candidates on the same ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fleming chairs the House Special Committee on Election Integrity, where his bill passed last week<\/a>. He said the measure aims to both boost voter confidence in Georgia\u2019s elections and ease burdens on local elections officials who were taxed with tallying millions of mail-in ballots during the recent elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe way we begin to restore confidence in our voting system<\/a> is by passing this bill,\u201d Fleming said from the House floor. \u201cThere are many common-sense measures here to begin that process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats scoffed at that notion Monday, calling it a smokescreen for Republican moves in Georgia to upend the elections<\/a> playing field after last year\u2019s historic statewide wins by Democrats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is a step in the wrong direction,\u201d said Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, the General Assembly\u2019s longest-serving member. \u201cI strongly believe it\u2019s time that we encourage every citizen to participate in the purest sense of citizenship, and that\u2019s voting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Democrats also warned passing Fleming\u2019s bill could prompt costly lawsuits and cost counties millions of dollars to put in place changes like new security paper for ballots. They also argued the bill would limit opportunities for counties to secure grant funding for elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRepublicans in the Georgia General Assembly are trying to change the rules of the election here in Georgia \u2013 rules that you wrote \u2013 because you were handed defeat [in recent elections],\u201d said Rep. Kimberly Alexander, D-Hiram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAnd you know your only chance at winning future elections is to prevent eligible Georgians from casting their ballots<\/a> and having their voices heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans doubled down in touting Fleming\u2019s bill Monday, framing it as a way to clean up confusion among voters and election workers and bolster faith in the integrity of voting<\/a> by mail by tossing Georgia\u2019s controversial signature-match process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEverybody\u2019s got a right to vote and that subjective signature match is a tough one,\u201d said state Rep. Alan Powell, R-Hartwell. \u201cThis is an objective way of verifying who someone is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Republicans also highlighted less-testy aspects of the bill such as revising precinct boundaries to curb long lines, blocking outside groups from sending absentee-ballot applications to cut down confusing mailers sent to voters and boosting training for poll watchers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur goals in regulating elections should be to assure voting is fair<\/a>, accessible, understandable, convenient and trustworthy,\u201d said House Speaker Pro Tempore Jan Jones, R-Milton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bill passed by a 97-72 vote along party lines and now heads to the state Senate<\/a>, where it will join a host of other elections-focused measures now winding through the General Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Fleming\u2019s bill is the most wide-ranging measure on election changes, it is similar to a separate omnibus bill<\/a>sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan, R-Carrollton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senators advanced other contentious measures last week that have split Republicans, including a bill<\/a> sponsored by Senate Rules Committee Chairman Jeff Mullis, R-Chickamauga, that would end Georgians\u2019 ability to vote by mail for any reason and limit absentee voting to elderly, disabled and overseas voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That measure, which Democrats have blasted as an attack on voter access, has drawn opposition from key state Republican leaders including Gov. Brian Kemp, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, House Speaker David Ralston, R-Blue Ridge, and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, those top Republican leaders have also supported proposals such as Fleming\u2019s bill to tighten absentee voter ID laws, all but guaranteeing passage later this month in the Republican-controlled state legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other Republican-brought bills on election changes currently in play include measures to end automatic voter registration<\/a>when Georgians obtain or renew their driver\u2019s licenses, empower state elections officials to assume temporary control<\/a>over local poor-performing elections boards and let county officials start processing absentee ballots a week before Election Day<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n