Lawmaker won’t be charged for Georgia voting bill protest

The Georgia lawmaker who was arrested after knocking on the door of the governor’s office as he made televised comments in support of the sweeping, controversial new election law he had just signed will not be charged, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

Rep. Park Cannon, an Atlanta Democrat, was arrested March 25 and charged with obstruction of law enforcement and disruption of the General Assembly. She was released from jail that evening.

“While some of Representative Cannon’s colleagues and the police officers involved may have found her behavior annoying, such sentiment does not justify a presentment to a grand jury of the allegations in the arrest warrants or any other felony charges,” Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said in an emailed statement.

Cannon tweeted Wednesday after Willis’ decision was announced: “Doors of injustice are everywhere and we cannot stop knocking.”

Republican supporters of the law have said it was necessary to restore confidence in the state’s elections, but Democrats and other critics have said it restricts voting access, particularly for communities of color.

The 98-page rewrite of Georgia’s election rules adds a new photo ID requirement to vote absentee by mail, gives the State Election Board new powers to remove and replace local election officials, prohibits people from giving water and snacks to people waiting in line, and makes some changes to early voting, among other things.

Informed of the district attorney’s decision, Cannon’s attorney, Gerald Griggs, said, “We are appreciative of the decision of the district attorney after we provided witnesses to her, and we plan to speak publicly very soon about our next steps.”