Georgia GOP Passed No-Excuse Absentee Voting In 2005, But Now Insists It Has To Go

You should not take your eyes off Georgia. More proposals are being presented in the state legislature on Monday in the name of “election integrity” that will make it more difficult for people to vote.

Back in 2005, Georgia Republicans insisted the state needed a no-excuse absentee voter rule. But after Georgia sent two Democrats to the Senate in January, suddenly the GOP thinks it’s time to get rid of it.

NBC News reports the Georgia senate is voting on measures that will also “limit mail-in voting primarily to Georgians who are elderly, disabled or out of town on Election Day.”

So what is no-excuse absentee voting? Vox explains:

No-excuse absentee voting can expand access to the ballot for people who may have trouble finding time to vote in person because of their job, their dependents, or health issues. While detractors point to the potential for fraud or coercion with this type of voting, there is little evidence that these claims are true. According to the New York Times, “in states that have long embraced mail-in voting … those running elections see no evidence of widespread fraud.” In Georgia, an audit by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office of one major Georgia county found zero cases of fraud among the roughly 15,000 absentee ballots reviewed.

“It’s pathetically obvious to anyone paying attention that when Trump lost the election and Georgia flipped control of the U.S. Senate to Democrats shortly after, Republicans got the message that they were in a political death spiral, And now they are doing anything they can do to silence the voices of Black and brown voters specifically because they largely powered these wins.” Georgia Democratic state Rep. Renitta Shannon (Via NBC)