Georgia Gov. Kemp signs GOP election bill amid an outcry
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp drew protests on Thursday as he signed into law a sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections that includes new restrictions on voting by mail and greater legislative control over how elections are run.
”The law will disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color.” says the democrats and voting rights groups. It is one of a wave of GOP- backed election bills introduced in states around the country after former President Donald Trump stocked false claims that fraud led to his 2020 election defeat.
On Thursday President Joe Biden called such GOP efforts ”un- American” and ”sick”. A group of voter mobilization groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta challenging the new law on the same day.
”After the November election last year, I knew, like so many of you, the significant reforms to our state elections were needed,” said Kemp, who drew Trump’s ere after certifying Biden’s victory in Georgia.
Kemp signed the bill less than two hours after it cleared the Georgia General Assembly. The state House approved it 100-75 before the state Senate quickly agreed to House changes, 34-20. Republicans supported it, with Democrats opposed.
Biden said,” The Republican voters I know find this despicable, Republican voters, the folks outside this White House. I’m not talking about the elected officials. I’m talking about voters.”
In Georgia, Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Gloria Butler called the efforts by Republicans ”voter suppression tactics. We are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault we’ve seen since the Jim Crow era.”
A lawsuit filed late Thursday in the U.S District Court in Atlanta by three groups – New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter Fund, and Rise- challenged key provisions of the new law and said they violated the Voting Rights Act. There was no immediate response from Georgia officials.
