As Georgia Republicans face mounting anger from voters over rising costs, health care cuts, economic chaos and recession-level job losses, Georgia Republicans voted to advance a blatant voter suppression bill that would eliminate countywide early voting.
Republicans on the Senate Ethics Committee rammed SB 568 through committee with almost no public comment, teeing up the legislation to be rushed through the chamber before Crossover Day.
“This voter suppression bill makes two things crystal clear: how little respect Georgia Republicans have for Georgia voters, and how scared they are of facing them,” said DPG Chair Charlie Bailey. “Only politicians terrified of facing accountability for their party’s record of sky-high costs and kicking people off their health insurance would go to such extremes to keep voters away from the polls.”
SB 568 would eliminate countywide early voting – which has led to record early voter turnout in Georgia – and force Georgians to vote at a single assigned Early Vote location that may be different from their assigned Election Day precinct – deliberately creating confusion, inconvenience, and decreased access for voters.
Besides causing confusion for voters over their assigned voting locations, the bill also drastically reduces the number of available voting locations per county, a clear attempt to suppress the vote in large, Democratic-leaning metro Atlanta counties. Each Fulton County voter would lose 43 early vote locations; DeKalb voters would lose 19; Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett County voters would lose 11 each; Cherokee and Douglas County voters would lose 5 each; and Henry County voters would lose 5 voting locations.
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