A Dozen Voting Bills, Citizen s Arrest Overhaul Survive 2021 Crossover Day gpb.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gpb.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Caption Rep. Barry Fleming, Chairman of the House Special Committee on Election Integrity, is one of many Republican lawmakers that voted to approve no-excuse absentee voting in 2005. Credit: Georgia House
A partisan divide over voting rights is nothing new for Georgia lawmakers: For years, Republicans have pushed changes they say would eliminate voter fraud while Democrats argue those measures amount to voter suppression that would disenfranchise minority voters.
That’s still true in 2021, as a raft of election bills work their way through the legislature that would drastically alter the state’s voting landscape. While many of the proposed changes are new, others resurrect arguments from the last major overhaul of Georgia’s absentee voting rules back in 2005 only with the roles reversed.