Georgia election chief refuses to back 'reactionary' GOP voter suppression bills

[DonViejo]

Matthew Chapman
February 23, 2021

On Tuesday, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — a conservative Republican — criticized the voter suppression bills making their way through the state legislature, refusing to give his seal of approval to any currently being debated.

"At the end of the day, many of these bills are reactionary to a three-month disinformation campaign that could have been prevented," said Raffensperger's office in a statement.

Republicans in both the state House and Senate have proposed a long list of new voting restrictions, including limits on who can vote by mail, new verification requirements, and even new laws that could ban Sunday voting drives at Black churches.

Raffensperger is broadly sympathetic to the GOP's voter suppression stances. He has even suggested he's open to limiting mail-in voting, which Republicans are broadly convinced is responsible for their loss in the state.

more
https://www.rawstory.com/georgia-election-denies-gop-suppression/

[madaboutharry]

1. Raffensperger should not be trusted.

He did the right thing once. But Stacey Abrams has made it clear that on every other occasion Raffensperger is fully on board making it hard for Democrats to vote.

[CottonBear]

2. He only did the right thing once because the eyes of the nation were on him.

Do not trust Georgia Republicans. Ever.

I’ll be on the phone with my GA Republican State Representative and Senator today.

[still_one]

3. Regardless what he thinks he can't stop the republican legislature in Georgia from

following through on this

What the Democrats must do is insure that we come out in mass to vote, regardless what obstacles are placed to make voting difficult

[Oldem]

5. No, he can't stop them, but

the courts can. See NC for parallel cases. These guys will keep trying different versions of voter suppression till a judge lets them get away with it. If a judge ever does, I think a higher court will strike it down.

In the meantime, repugs like those in GA are making voters of color angrier and angrier, driving them more firmly into Democratic arms, and pissing them off enough to bring them out to the polls in ever larger numbers. At least that's the way it should work out. I think GA repugs are inadvertently making it harder for their candidates to win. I'd say they should court black voters, instead, but they have nothing to offer.

[still_one]

7. The republicans have given up trying to attract diversity in their party evidenced by

their allegiance to trump, which is equivalent to their embracement of racism, bigotry, and sexism

[uponit7771]

4. These measures should be illegal, if they don't have relevant data to back up their

... measures when it comes to voting then there shouldn't be legislstion for it.

PERIOD

[bullwinkle428]

6. Clearly trying to play both sides of the fence here. Repukes are

very skilled at this form of manipulation.

Iowa is attempting to ram-rod similar bills through its red legislature, despite their overwhelming victories in 2020. We're quickly turning into into one of the reddest states in the union.