or redistributed. Section 33 of thenew lawrevised existing law, adding the bolded parts to subsections (a) and (e) of astate lawthat places restrictions on campaign activities: SB 202, March 25:(a) No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material,nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector,nor shall any person solicit signatures for any petition, nor shall any person, other than election officials discharging their duties, establish or set up any tables or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast: (1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is established; (3) Within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place. Calia Z. Bynum, 24, of St. But, as we said, the law bans any person from providing food or drink within 25 feet of any voter standing in line.. The law passed the Georgia House on Thursday morning by a party-line vote of 100 to 75, and was approved by the Senate in the evening on a 34-to-20 vote before being signed by Gov. Republicans say they are simply streamlining the voting and counting procedures to ensure election integrity. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Volunteers and third-party groups regularly hand out water on hot days or hot drinks on cold days to voters standing in line. The governors spokeswoman said that guidance from the secretary of state does not have the same weight or effect as statute change.. This surge in voting restrictions is clearly motivated by Trumps claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 elections. Cloud, is charged with two felonies, accused of registering to The greatest area of concern here for Democrats is Fulton County, home to Atlanta and a disproportionate number of Black voters. Woman shot dead after pulling into wrong driveway, Man charged with shooting boy who rang wrong doorbell, Bear captured after killing Alpine jogger, Putin visits occupied Kherson region in Ukraine, Russian court rejects detained US journalist appeal, US accuses Brazil's Lula of parroting war propaganda, DeSantis floats idea of state prison near Disney park. This is a problem of the Georgia GOPs making. These unjustified measures will individually and cumulatively operate to impose unconstitutional burdens on the right to vote, to deny or abridge the voting rights of Black Georgians, and to deny Black voters in Georgia an equal opportunity to participate in the electoral process and elect candidates of their choice, says the lawsuit, which is filed against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Georgias State Elections Board. The buses were alsoalternatives to long lines at polling locations. The timeline for requesting and returning ballots has also shortened under the new law. Counties must now report returns from absentee ballots by 5 p.m. the day after Election Day or else they could face an investigation. The role was demoted toan ex-officio nonvoting member of the board. Please enter valid email address to continue. The law expands in-person early voting for general elections, according to The AJC. Well fact-check claims from President Joe Biden and Georgia Gov. Georgia voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election, the first time the state had chosen a Democratic presidential candidate in more than 25 years. Correction, March 26: An earlier version of this article misstated the manner in which SB202 applies Georgias voter ID law to mail-in ballot applications. For early, or advance, voting, the old law said it shall be conducted during normal business hours on weekdays. The new law specifies that the time period shall be beginning at 9:00 A.M. and ending at 5:00 P.M. on weekdays. The new law also adds a mandatory weekend day for early voting, requiring two Saturdays of early voting. This new prohibition is extra, and prevents giving anyone in line food or drink, even if its demonstrably not an incentive (e.g., giving someone who had already waited two hours in line a bottle of water).. Take the last round of redistricting, after the 2010 census. Republicans have baselessly alleged that this Democratic bastion was a major site of fraud, citing (among other things) a purported video of ballot-stuffing in the county. What worries me most in this voter suppression package is the ability of the state to overwhelm county election boards in counting/certification of the count, says Rob Mickey, a political scientist and the author of Paths Out of Dixie (a study of authoritarianism in the Jim Crow South). The new law allows the Georgia attorney general to set up a hotline for voters to file complaints and allegations of voter intimidation or illegal activity. President Biden has said: "What I'm worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. Kempmisleadingly suggested the new law wouldnt reduce the number of drop boxes available for absentee voters to drop off their ballots. GOP Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been at the center of attacks by fellow Republicans for pushing back against attacks from former President Trump. But Republicans reversed themselves, and the measure now expands weekend early voting. The law still requires a candidate to win a majority of votes to avoid a runoff, but SB 202 abbreviates the runoff period. Democrats and civil-rights groups panned thevoting bill, and major Georgia-based corporations came out against the bill after it was passed. Georgia Gov. Under the new law, two Saturdays of early voting are mandatory from 9 am to 5 pm at minimum and from 7 am to 7 pm if counties desire and two Sundays are explicitly made optional. There's been criticism of a provision which bans some people from handing out food or water to voters within a certain distance of polling sites. Under the law, the board could intervene in up to four counties at a time and install a temporary superintendent with the ability to hire and fire personnel including elections directors and poll officers. The election law has sparked a backlash from Democratic officials and activists, not least of whom is President Biden, who called the legislation "Jim Crow in the 21st century.". The intention may be to prevent special interest groups from delivering food and water to people waiting in line as a means to influence voters. The new law makes it a misdemeanor to hand out any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink to anyone standing in line to vote. Georgia is one of more than 40 states in which Republicans are pushing for a tightening of rules around voting, mainly targeting those who do not vote on the day at polling stations. Sunday voting is especially important for black worshippers in Georgia - a strongly Democratic voting bloc - with church goers often encouraged to vote after Sunday services, with initiatives known as "souls to the polls". In 2016, the founders of a nonprofit calledPizza to the Pollssaid reports of long lines at early voting locations prompted them to raise $10,000 and deliver about 2,000 pizzas at more than 100 polling locations in 24 states. The Democrats say it is an attempt to target social and ethnic groups who are more likely to vote for them, reducing the surge in votes from those groups in the last election. Although poll workers are still allowed to give away water, other people will have to follow certain restrictions under the new regulations. Nearly 6,800 of those votes were accepted. Gabriel Sterling, one of the top officials at the Georgia secretary of state's office, told CBS affiliate WMAZ that the ban is meant to prevent groups from using food and water to campaign within the restricted areas. The free giveaways became an issue prior to theJan. 5 runoff electionsfor Georgias two U.S. Senate seats. The boxes are only accessible during advanced voting. To simplify: The state board, which now will be fully controlled by the Republican legislative majority, is unilaterally empowered to take over (among other things) the process of disqualifying ballots across the state. Brian Kemp Thursday, March 25, 2021, represents the first big set of changes since former President Donald Trump's repeated, baseless claims of fraud following his presidential loss to Joe Biden. The old law required one. Offering money and gifts including food or drink to a voter is prohibited. Officers may also make self-service water available to voters. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. (e) This Code section shall not be construed to prohibit a poll officer from distributing materials, as required by law, which are necessary for the purpose of instructing electors or from distributing materials prepared by the Secretary of State which are designed solely for the purpose of encouraging voter participation in the election being conductedor from making available self-service water from an unattended receptacle to an elector waiting in line to vote. Take our quiz, We'll find you and we won't let you live a teams fight to exist, When a biryani flies hundreds of miles to reach Indians, The two generals fighting over Sudan's future, 'I thought we'd die' - Sudan patients cry for help, Why Gen Z workers are starting on the back foot. The governor said that the availability of drop boxes was now for the first time ever codified in the law, and its true drop boxes for absentee ballots werent part of the old law. FILE - In this Oct. 12, 2020, file photo, people wait in line for early voting at the Bell Auditorium in Augusta, Ga. CNN . A new voting law in Georgia has sparked a rebuke from Major League Baseball and political spin from both parties. Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Market data provided by Factset. The county registrar's offices or the Georgia Department of Driver Services can issue free state ID cards. The number of drop boxes for Georgia's four most populous counties, Fulton, Cobb, DeKalb and Gwinnett, will drop from 94 in 2020 to 23 in 2022, according to The Times. SB 202 imposes voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water. 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