Georgia Recorder
Proposed election restrictions include buffer zone to hand voters water
Atlantans Diane Latham (L) and Holly Frew handed out bottled water and snacks to voters during 2020 primary early voting at Fulton County s College Park library precinct. Six-hour waits to cast a ballot at the precinct were common all day. John McCosh/Georgia Recorder
After hearing reports of people standing in line for hours after early voting opened in last June’s primary election, Atlanta resident Holly Frew decided to pitch in to make the wait outside a Fulton County precinct more bearable.
She and a friend teamed up to hand out snacks and cold water to voters waiting at the College Park Library branch, where the line of voters snaked far from the entrance. The voters she met were grateful for the refreshments after standing in long lines.
Georgia Recorder
Georgia Senate Republicans filed a host of election bills this week, aiming to ban no-excuse absentee ballots and drop boxes like the one outside of Fulton County s College Park Library voting precinct in the June 2020 primary. John McCosh/Georgia Recorder
Georgia Republican senators launched a concerted attempt at overhauling state voting laws this week, proposing to end automatic opt-in voter registration when Georgians get a driver’s license, no-excuse absentee voting and absentee ballot drop boxes.
The flurry of GOP election bills filed this week has Democrats, voting rights advocates, and political science and voting law experts saying most of the legislation would discourage voting and face legal challenges as a new law.