Following the 2020 presidential election, election officials, poll workers, and voters were negotiating new restrictions enacted by the GOP-controlled Legislature and Republican governor amid a determined push by former President Donald Trump to throw doubt on his loss with baseless charges of fraud.
They introduced restrictions to postal voting, limited drop boxes, and amended procedures that might make it more difficult for voters to have their ballots tallied on Election Day if they have problems. That’s despite the fact that there’s no proof of significant voter fraud in Georgia, which Joe Biden won by around 11,800 votes in the 2020 presidential election.
Long lineups, voter confusion, voting equipment problems, or any other issue that could prevent voters from casting their ballots were all on the radar of voting groups.
Georgia had a record-breaking early voting session, which ended on Tuesday. By Friday, about 860,000 ballots had been cast, with the bulk being cast in person rather than by mail. Early voting increased by 168 percent from the 2018 primary and 212 percent from 2020, according to state election authorities.
The early voting figures have been used by Republicans as proof that the Georgia law, known as Senate Bill 202, has not affected voters.
“Facts disprove the left’s ‘voter suppression’ narrative yet again,” said Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project Action, a conservative organisation that promotes stricter voting restrictions.
Georgia, along with Alabama and Arkansas, was one of three states that held conventional primaries on Tuesday. Texas is hosting runoff elections for attorney general and a Democratic congressional seat, while Minnesota is holding a special primary to fill the seat of former Republican U.S. Representative Jim Hagedorn, who died in February.
Since the record numbers reported in 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when voters were seeking alternatives to packed polling venues, Georgia — along with other states that have hosted early primary — has experienced a sharp fall in the usage of mailed ballots.
Related
- Dave Chappelle’s Alleged Attacker Isaiah Lee Reveals His Reason Behind Tackling the Comedian
- Colin Cantwell Dies: ‘Star Wars’ Death Star And Spacecraft Designer Was 90
The new Georgia elections law, according to voting advocates, has made it more difficult to request a mail ballot by limiting the time period during which voters can apply for one and adding extra ID requirements to the applications and the ballot itself. Trump’s baseless assaults on mailed ballots have harmed voter confidence as well.
Georgia voters had requested about 97,000 mail ballots, and about 64,600 had been returned as of Sunday. Around 1,300 applications were rejected because they arrived after the new, earlier deadline, accounting for about 1.4 percent of all applications submitted. If they are able, those voters can still vote in person on Tuesday.
New identification requirements tripped up Texas primary voters in March, resulting in an unusually high incidence of mail ballot rejections. Alabama and Arkansas lawmakers also cut the time frame for requesting absentee ballots.
