In the wake of a tempestuous election cycle intensified by unsubstantiated voter fraud allegations, Republican lawmakers nationwide are now working state-by-state to establish new voting laws to restrict African American access to the polls. On March 25, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a new voting bill, SB 202, which empowers state-level officials to control elections instead of local county election boards.
In turn, this law allows the Republican-controlled Georgia state legislature to gain authority over local election operations, replace election board members with partisan appointees and disqualify ballots in precincts statewide.
Since Georgia Republicans have long perpetuated baseless voter fraud accusations in majority-Black districts, many Georgians worry that this law could jeopardize Americans’ voting rights, particularly in regions like Fulton County that have a disproportionately Black citizenry.
PHOENIX
The national battle over voting restrictions was, for one sluggish February afternoon, waged in a cramped hearing room of Arizona’s House of Representatives. Separated by plexiglass barriers, Republican lawmakers steadily plowed ahead on bills that, put together, could make it harder for Arizonans to vote.
Members of a House committee advanced
a proposal to forbid the use of private money to help conduct elections, such as by buying equipment or funding voter education. They approved a bill making it a felony for an official to change any election-related date set in
statute. They OKd a measure to preemptively forbid same-day voter registration, which the state does not currently offer.