Republicans are taking their voter suppression efforts to new extremes.

[Nevilledog]

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Ari Berman
@AriBerman
All across country Republicans weaponizing Trump’s lies to make it harder to vote. This is one of most disgusting things I’ve ever seen & underscores why Dems must urgently pass John Lewis Voting Rights Act & For the People Act to stop voter suppression

Republicans are taking their voter suppression efforts to new extremes.
From Georgia to Iowa, Republicans are concocting new ways to suppress Democratic votes.
motherjones.com
9:25 AM · Feb 24, 2021

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/02/republicans-are-taking-their-voter-suppression-efforts-to-new-extremes/

After record turnout in 2020, Republican-controlled states appear to be in a race to the bottom to see who can pass the most egregious new barriers to voting.

Georgia is ground zero for the party’s escalating war on voting, targeting the voting methods that were used most by Democratic voters in 2020 and which contributed to flipping the state blue and electing two Democratic senators.

On Tuesday, Georgia’s Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan introduced a bill repealing no-excuse absentee voting, which 1.3 million Georgians used in 2020, including 450,000 Republicans. Under his proposal, only a small subset of voters, such as those who are out of town, disabled, or over 65 (a demographic that leans strongly Republican), will be eligible to vote by mail. The small percentage of Georgians who can still cast ballots by mail will have to get a witness signature on their ballot and attach a copy of photo identification, which requires access to a copier or printer. The new law would make Georgia one of the most restrictive states in the country for mail voting.

Georgia Republicans wrote every aspect of the state’s already stringent voting laws and for many years promoted mail voting, specifically exempting mail ballots from voter ID requirements because they didn’t want their own voters, who are older and more rural, to be disenfranchised. They abruptly had a change of heart in November, when more Democrats than Republicans voted by mail for the first time.

The state Senate bill comes on the heels of legislation introduced by Georgia House Republicans last week that would eliminate voting on Sunday, a measure seemingly designed to suppress Black turnout by targeting the Souls to the Polls get-out-the-vote drives organized by Black churches. The bill has been dubbed “Jim Crow with a suit and tie.” Black voters make up roughly 30 percent of Georgia’s electorate but compromised 37 percent of Sunday voters in 2020. The bill also takes aim at mail voting by restricting the use of mail ballot drop boxes and gives election officials less time to send out mail ballots and voters less time to return them.

*snip*

[underpants]

1. At least Georgia isn't requiring the witness to submit a stool sample

I mean THAT would seem a bit overkill

[58Sunliner]

2. The law they are proposing does not allow election officials to send out ballots.

"election officials less time to send out mail ballots and voters less time to return them." Unless they are referring to the company that they will hire to print and mail absentee ballots. Which I doubt. The 4 week period is also going to be a problem when they screw up your ballot and can't get you a new one in time. "and prohibits new voters from registering for the runoffs after November".
Also a tactic in Iowa-
"Iowa Republicans are on the verge of enacting a new bill that would cut nine days of early voting and severely restrict mail voting by limiting ballot drop boxes to one per county and preventing county officials from sending absentee ballot request forms to voters."