Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021

The Georgia Voter Suppression Laws

GOOD NEWS:  April 7, 2021:

New Gallup Poll finds largest increase in Democratic party identification in a decade.

It is data like this, showing people leaving the GQP and joining the Democratic Party, that makes it hard to understand the reasons the Republican Party keeps sucking up to Trump and embracing Trumpism. 

People leaving the GQP do not support conspiracies, coups, racism, corruption, and misogyny. 


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As expected,Trumpublicans are upset because people of good will are protesting the voter suppression laws recently passed in Georgia.

And, as expected, the Trumpublicans are spreading lies about those recently passed voter suppression laws. For example:


Myth 1: The Georgia election law discourages voting/suppresses votes 

FACT: The bill actually preserves or expands ballot access in several important ways: It requires that large precincts with lines more than an hour long take steps like adding voting machines and election personnel for the next election to reduce wait times. It does not change the number of total early voting days, and actually increases the mandatory days of early weekend voting. Compared to 2020, 134 of 159 counties will offer more early voting hours in future elections under the new law. It codifies election drop boxes, which did not exist prior to 2020. Voters can continue to vote absentee with no excuse(unlike states like Delaware, New York, and Connecticut, which require an excuse to vote absentee).




From Max Boot, a Republican: (NOTE: He is NOT a Trumpublican, there is a huge difference! Unlike a Trumpublican, a Republican is NOT a cultist. The above italicized text in orange was taken from a Trumpublican cultist's blog.) 





As in any war, truth is the first casualty in this conflict. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) claims that criticism of the legislation is misplaced because it actually “expands” voting access. It’s true that the act does contain some provisions that expand access primarily in rural, heavily Republican areas. But a meticulous New York Times examination found that these provisions are far outweighed by 16 measures that restrict voting access — especially in urban areas where minority voters are concentrated.

In the core of metropolitan Atlanta, the number of drop boxes for absentee ballots will be reduced from 94 to no more than 23. 

The amount of time to request an absentee ballot before an election will be cut from 180 days to 78. 

Provisional ballots cast by voters who mistakenly go to the wrong polling place may no longer be counted. 

Election officials will be banned from sending absentee ballots to all voters. 

Mobile voting centers will essentially be discontinued. 

New ID requirements will be instituted. 

Outside groups will be prohibited from offering food or water to voters waiting in long lines even on hot and humid days. (Long lines are one of the leading reasons cited for not voting.)

Some of the act’s most worrisome provisions give the Republican-controlled legislature more control over disputed results. The legislature can now suspend county election officials. Replacements will be named by the State Election Board — whose chair will now be appointed by the legislature. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had previously chaired the board. But he angered Trump by resisting entreaties to overturn the election results, so now the secretary of state has been booted off the election board altogether.

President Biden may have exaggerated in describing this as “Jim Crow in the 21st century.” It’s not as egregious as restrictions on voting during the segregation era (but that’s not saying much). He was definitely wrong to claim that the law ends voting at 5 p.m.; polls will still be open until 7 p.m. And it’s true, as Kemp argues, that some blue states have restrictive voting laws of their own. Georgia, for example, offers a minimum of 17 days of early voting compared with nine in New York. But New York isn’t moving to restrict voting. Georgia is. 

Why is that? Republicans can’t answer that basic question with a straight face because an honest response would expose their authoritarianism and racism.



The blog site that posted the misinformation (above in italicized orange font) pretends to be posting factual information. It's does not.

That blog and many other Trumpublican sites like it cannot be trusted to tell the truth. 

They. Are. Cultists.

28 comments:

Shaw Kenawe said...

Donald Trump calling for a boycott of Coke only to be caught with a Coke on his desk days later is symbolic of his entire presidency: It was a parody, a joke, for four years straight!

I’m so thankful it’s OVER!

Ray said...

Shaw, those folks only talk to themselves and reaffirm their Trumpist fascism to each other.

Mike said...

I'm hoping the ACLU will be challenging much of this in court.

skudrunner said...

Horrible law, requiring people to prove they are eligible to vote, increasing poll hours which increases stress on volunteers and not being able to campaign within 150 feet of the polling place. Poll workers are the only ones who can pass out water so it will not be campaigning. You still can request and absentee ballot but you only have ten weeks to request one. Counties must have two early voting days on Saturday or Sunday. The law does restrict unlimited couch voting so which is a true form of discrimination

Now you have the delta ceo saying it is an unfair law to demand an ID while his airline demands and ID to fly. If you read the law you would see it is fair and not nearly as restrictive as many other states including some in NE.

Shaw Kenawe said...

"...there was little evidence before 2020 that Democratic-leaning constituencies used vote-by-mail at higher rates than other voters. These patterns continued through Georgia’s June 2020 primary, when 54 percent of white voters cast a ballot by mail, compared with just 44 percent of Black voters.

The Racial Composition Is Different for Older Voters
There are currently multiple live bills in the Georgia Legislature that would end no-excuse mail voting. These bills, however, include carve outs for older voters. Senate Bill 241 — which advanced out of the Senate Ethics Committee this week — includes being 65 or older as a valid excuse; Senate Bill 71, which has also seen movement in the Senate this week, would make being 75 or older a valid excuse.

In other words, under these proposals, older voters — who according to CNN exit polls supported Republicans at higher rates in 2020 — would continue to have unrestricted access to vote-by-mail. As the figure below shows, fewer than half of vote-by-mail participants under 65 years old were white, but 60 percent of the mail voters between 65 and 74, and 70 percent of the mail voters 75 and older were white. Because older Georgians are whiter than younger Georgians, the legislation restricting mail voting for younger voters disproportionately benefits white voters."

Shaw Kenawe said...

"Ending Sunday Voting Further Harms Black Voters

Curtailing mail voting isn’t the only regressive change being considered by Georgia Republicans. House Bill 531 — which passed in the Georgia House on Monday — contains many restrictive provisions, such as shrinking the absentee ballot application window and limiting the hours during which mail ballot drop boxes can be open. It also eliminates early in-person voting on Sundays in the weeks leading up to an election.

Sundays have historically been important turnout days for Black Americans, as Black churches organize “Souls to the Polls” drives. To understand the racial implications of this proposed change, we looked at who voted early on what days in the 2020 general election.

Although Sunday was not a particularly popular day for voting in 2020 (just 2.7 percent of early in-person ballots were cast on a Sunday), there are clear racial divisions. Black voters (who make up 30 percent of the registered electorate) accounted for 36.5 percent of Sunday voters, but just 26.8 percent of early in-person voters on other days. On the other hand, 60 percent of the voters who voted early on other days were white, though that was true of just 47 percent of Sunday voters (53 percent of registered voters in Georgia are white). Barring counties from holding early in-person voting on Sundays would disproportionately impact Black Georgians."


Shaw Kenawe said...

"Conclusion

Around the country, we are seeing legislators push to make voting harder. In the case of Georgia, these changes will disproportionately hurt Black voters. The state is considering restricting mail voting in response to a shift in the racial demographics of the voters who use it, but wants to keep mail voting available for older, whiter mail voters. The same is true for early in-person voting: Republicans in the Peach State want to end Sunday voting, a day disproportionately popular among Black voters. Voter suppression is always unacceptable, and the razor thin political margins in Georgia may mean that suppression efforts like these will change political outcomes. Rather than imposing barriers, Georgia should be looking at ways to improve voter access."



SOURCE

Les Carpenter said...

Boot is a good man.

There are more Trumpublican republicans in congress and the senate than not, so, best course of action, trust nothing coming out of the GQP caucus. Nothing. Especially as long as Moscow Mitch is in the senate.

Shaw Kenawe said...

LOL!!!!

NEWS: #McConnell in Kentucky calls actions of #MLB, #Coke, and #Delta in opposition of Georgia voting law ‘stupid.’ ‘My warning to corporate America is to stay out of politics,’ he says. ‘I’m not talking about political contributions, he adds.

Bluebullamerica said...

The right ALWAYS try to make things hard for people and take away rights whenever they can. It's just what that sad, disgusting, un American party does, sadly.

Les Carpenter said...

LOL!!!

Hypocrisy, "I don't support your decency MLB, and you BETTER watch out with your accurate understanding of democracy, but, I'll GLADLY accept your green. Anytime.

skudrunner said...

Wasn't it a big deal several years ago when corporations could donate to political candidates. Now corporations are determining what laws should be passed. The media forced the MLB to move the all star game from Georgia to Colorado because of the election law. What they didn't consider is Colorado has most of the same election laws as Georgia and the move was from a majority black city to a majority white city. Seems like racism to me.
Of course the guy who said Latino's can make up their own minds while blacks cannot is all in favor of moving thousands of jobs to a lily white community. Guess he also feels they cannot copy numbers from the DL or SS card.

Anonymous said...

I’ll answer Skud’s response with Jen Psaki’s response to a Fox reporter: “ “First, let me say, on Colorado. Colorado allows you to register on Election Day, Colorado has voting by mail where they send, to 100% of people in the state who are eligible, applications to vote by mail,” Psaki said, adding that 94% of Colorado citizens voted by mail in the 2020 election.
Colorado also accepts 16 forms of identification, compared to Georgia’s six.

Psaki also made another distinction between Georgia’s new voting law and the existing one in Colorado.

“The Georgia legislation is built on a lie. There was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election, Georgia’s top Republican election officials have acknowledged that repeatedly in interviews,” she said. ”And what there was, however, was record-setting turnout, especially by voters of color. So instead, what we’re seeing here, for politicians who didn’t like the outcome, they’re not changing their policies to win more votes, they’re changing the rules to exclude more voters. And we certainly see the circumstances as different.”

Possumlady

Shaw Kenawe said...

Possumlady,

Thank you for that comment. It clearly explains the difference.

Skud seems to have just discovered how American politics works. Did he actually believe Trump rolled back all the environmental protections and climate change policies because he carefully thought out reasons for doing so?

LOL!

skudrunner said...

Applications to vote by mail is not unlike absentee voting where you still have to do something in order to get a ballot. They still require ID to vote which everyone knows is voter suppression. Georgia will provide an ID at not cost to those three people who don't have an ID, sixteen forms of ID, really. Does that include a sears credit card as ID.

Was their election fraud, of course just not massive. Did the DNC figure out a way to get the trump haters but not biden enthusiasts to vote, yes and it is called no effort couch voting.

Dave Miller said...

Skud and others… How about this as it relates to voting?

--Everyone must show photo ID to vote. Accepted ID’s are a state issued driver’s license, [including an expired driver’s license for people over 65 who may no longer drive] passport, student ID, or a new free Federal Voter ID card. The effective date will be the 2024 Presidential elections, giving everyone time to secure any needed documents. Anyone over 75 can continue to vote with the ID requirements in place for the 2020 Presidential elections.

--Voter registration is allowed nationally up to election day, at the polls, with proper ID.

--Early in person voting is allowed in every state for a period of 21 days, Sundays included.

--Every registered voter in the state can request a ballot be mailed to their home. They must provide a signature, valid address and the number of their current acceptable photo ID. These can be on Scantron type forms that will be computer verified, with a hand selected random quantity verified by poll workers. As is done without fraud in many states already.

--Precinct size is to be standardized across the nation based on a set number of voters pre precinct or a set number of voters per voting machine. The goal is to make sure minorities have the same quality of voting experience as people in non minority areas of many states.

--Mail in and early votes will be tabulated before election day, [as is already done on many states] but results are to be confidential and not released until election day after the polls close. As is done in many states safely already.

--Polls in every state are to be open from 7am to 7pm, local time. No exceptions. If you are inline before the polls close, you get to vote. No results are to be released prior to poll closing time.

--Precinct size will be standardized across the nation with a goal of no one waiting more than 10 minutes from arrival to registration at the polling desk.

--National election day will be a paid holiday. The federal government will work with business leaders across the country to encourage them to close their stores so people can vote and take part in their civic duty. Food stores, pharmacies and other essential businesses will remain open.

--If security is needed at certain polls, it must be provided by law enforcement, not independent groups.

--Finally, IRS certified non profit, non political, non partisan groups can provide water, food and other refreshments free of charge to people waiting in lines at polling places outside of a 100 foot “non intervention” zone.

The overarching goal here is more people securely voting. We want as many Americans as possible to have the right to exercise their franchise, efficiently and safely.

Will this be expensive? Yes, but I assume there are many voters who will be happy to spend the money necessary to make sure our elections are safe, secure and accessible by the largest amount of Americans possible.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Dave

Bravo! I support all of your ideas.

Registering to vote and voting should be free, safe, easy, and accessible to all Americans.

And as you pointed out, many of these registration and voting protocols are already in place in several states.

Let's hear what others say about this.

Shaw Kenawe said...

skudrunner Was their election fraud, of course just not massive.

S.K.: Actually, fraud was infinitesimal, and we're finding more than a few Republicans perpetrated the fraud.



Anonymous said...

Wow, Skud’s comment: “Did the DNC figure out a way to get the trump haters but not biden enthusiasts to vote, yes and it is called no effort couch voting.” Reads like a veiled dog whistle to me. You know those Biden enthusiasts who don’t want to work and live off the government—right? How about people who have 2 or 3 jobs and can’t afford to take off the time to stand in line for hours to vote. Or the elderly who have trouble walking or standing in line for hours and don’t have access to computers to request an absentee ballot? I’m surprised the republicans didn’t outlaw people bringing chairs or other devices to allow them to stay in line for hours.

Possumlady

Shaw Kenawe said...

Possumlady,

We all know (well some of us do, anyway) what the new Georgia laws are about:

Suppressing minority voters' votes.

They saw what happened in November and January, and they're not going to let that happen again.

skudrunner said...

PL, There is and has always been absentee voting so your argument is not valid that people don't have the time to stand in line.

Ms Shaw, if there is one vote that is fraudulent then their is voter fraud. You can't be a little pregnant. It is not about suppressing minority voters it is about an a verifiable voter. If you suppress a minority voter you can also suppress a non minority voter so it works across the entire spectrum.

Rev, that all sounds reasonable and they did away with the poll tax decades ago so it is free. ID are free and how many people do you know without an ID now.

Shaw Kenawe said...

skud: "Ms Shaw, if there is one vote that is fraudulent then their is voter fraud."


By your logic, this is true:

If there is one corrupt policeman then there is corrupt policing.

Les Carpenter said...

If there is one corrupt politician then there is corrupt politicking. When an entire party is corrupt you have the GQP party. America's SHAME.

Dave Miller said...

Skud... it's not the ID, it's the capriciousness of what is accepted, by state. It's why we need a national standard. But for some reason there are politicians and voters who oppose that. And would oppose most, if not all of the suggestions I favor.

Why is that?

As for ppl with no ID, again, what some little old ladies, widows I expect, have is a marriage license. They've never driven, have never had a passport, relied on the husbands all their lives and have lived in the same house for 70 years.

I can tell you for a fact that my wife has relatives in the south with no "official" ID, 80 something in age and could never prove who they are except by the people that say "That's Sally, she's lived here for years, my mom knew her mom."

There are still lots of folks, mostly in the south, who fall into that category, thus my over 75 age limit. I think, in a country that saw no real election fraud [and the governor of Georgia said as much] and certainly nothing that would have changed the election, we can take a chance on a select group of over 75 year old people.

But that's just me.

Anonymous said...

I can attest to what Dave said. My father died at the age of 64 and my mother had no ID since she did not drive. All the utility bills were in my father's name. My mom could never find their marriage license, either.

Yes, Georgia states they will provide free IDs to people. BUT, in order to do that, people still need to provide the State of Georgia with official documents to prove who they are.

People also need to realize that many people who live in Georgia were not born in Georgia. When I had to renew my Maryland Driver's License last fall to make it a Real ID license I had to bring a certified copy of my birth certificate. I didn't have one so I had to go online to the State of Minnesota, navigate their website and print off a copy of the request form (you can't do it online). I then had to fill out the form by hand, get it notarized and snail mail it back with a check to Minnesota. How many low income and/or elderly people would not have been able to do that due to: not knowing how to use or have a personal computer at home let alone a printer (I myself didn't have a printer and had to ask a neighbor if I could print out the form on their printer). Finding a notary took me two days of calling around to various banks and UPS offices before I found one. Then I had to drive to and pay to get the notary to sign my form. Then I mailed the form with a check to Minnesota. You also had to provide utility bills in your name at your address. What if you don't have utility bills in your name? What if you live somewhere and just pay the person you live with money for your share of the utilities?

Possumlady

Paula said...

The single most salient fact Republicans pretend we can't all see is....THEY LOST, BIG. They have proclaimed the obvious, repeatedly: when people vote, the GOP loses. They're not changing laws to increase the chances of further losses.

Les Carpenter said...

My father, who was born in a backwater town in Minnesota in 1932 might have trouble proving who he was if he lived in Georgia today. His official state birth certificate said "Baby Carpenter" because my grandparents did not decide on a name for my dad right away so the hospital in the backwater town of Remer simply wrote "Baby Carpenter" an his BC. When my father attempted to get a passport sometime after 911 The United States Government refused to give him one because, ready for it, they had no idea which "baby Carpenter" he was.

He always joked after that the United States Goverbment NEVER refused to take taxes from "Baby Carpenter".

Bluebullamerica said...

I have MANY relatives who still live on the reservation and only have Tribal ID which, in most of these Republiscum states are not acceptable. They know that most true First Nation people vote Democratic rather than Fascist GOPQ.