Political and Legislative
What the New Georgia Voting Laws Actually Do
Washington (CNN)The new Georgia elections law signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp last week has prompted lawsuits from civil rights groups, a sharp denunciation from President Joe Biden, and calls for businesses to take action against the state.
Republican proponents of the law say the critics who accuse them of “voter suppression” are mischaracterizing both their intentions and key provisions of the law. They claim the law not only makes Georgia’s elections more secure but that it expands access to voting.
That’s highly misleading at best. As critics have correctly said, the law imposes significant new obstacles to voting. It also gives the Republican-controlled state government new power to assert control over the conduct of elections in Democratic counties.
The law does, however, contain some provisions that can be reasonably be described as pro-voting, and critics have not always described all of the text accurately.
