power want to secure their power and control by making it harder for people to access the voting precincts and that s just not fair nor is it right. so we have to do everything we can to stop this and we have and we hope that this works. that s our prayer. so in terms of trying to stop a lot of media coverage made it out an issue for democrats. from the local level it seems less partisan than that. are there republicans in your committee that don t want these polling places to close? yes. we ve heard from citizens of both parties and some even signed the petitions and they, too, want access in their own communities. they want to keep their polling places opened. people in this community does not work in this community. we have people who work in athens, georgia, augusta,
county board of elections from replacing all seven of the county s voting precincts with just one voting center, the colvin curry recreation complex in lincolnton, for the entire county. this is a huge county. people live so far away. we don t have public transportation. we don t have access of calling lyft or uber or a taxicab. we have nothing. reporter: just about 7,700 people live in the east georgia county where donald trump won more than 68% of the vote in 2020. notices for public hearings went out last september, advertising a move to make voting, quote, easier and more accessible. well, we probably had about 15 to 20 people at each public hearing. reporter: election director lavinda bolton said the board pitched the rec center has being gig enough to allow for social distancing and voting equipment will allow the county to reduce
that is unfair to all of our residents in the northern and, when we currently voted midway, which is about eight or nine minutes from where we live. i don t understand why they would put this kind of situation, when there is no legitimate reason to close any precincts, in 2022. we should be affording people more access to the voting process, not decreasing it. that s exactly would happened. with senate bill two 82, into 83, it s like the people who are empower want to secure their power and control, by making it harder for people to access the voting precincts. that is just not fair, nor is
republicans that senator menendez mentioned back in 2006 during the george w. bush years that voted to renew the 165 voting rights bill. you see a switch within the party, including many of those republicans who are still in the senate. i can t tell you why. i really can t tell you why, rev, but from my perspective as a conservative, this is what i think should occur. i do think republicans should work with democrats to extend voting times. i do think that republicans should work with democrats to have more voting precincts available, particularly in heavily populated areas. as i told a friend a week ago, i wouldn t wait in line for 15 hours. i know someone that s been working all day wouldn t wait in line for ten hours. there has to be steps we can take in a bipartisan fashion that are not republicans, that are not democratic, but that really strengthens and sort of provides a healthy balance, if you will, to the voting process.