GEORGIA GOP SEEKS MAIL-IN BALLOT CHANGES
Republicans look to require photo ID for absentee voters
ATLANTA
After weathering criticism for certifying President Donald Trump’s narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, Republican officials in Georgia are proposing additional requirements for the state’s vote-by-mail process, despite no evidence of systemic fraud or irregularities.
Two state Senate committees held hearings Thursday to begin a review of Georgia’s voting laws. Republicans are zeroing in on a plan to require a photo ID for ballots cast by mail. Voting rights activists and Democrats argue that the change isn’t necessary and would disenfranchise voters.
Biden beat Trump by just over 12,500 votes in Georgia, with Biden receiving nearly twice as many of the record number of absentee ballots as the Republican president, according to the secretary of state’s office. A recount requested by Trump was wrapping up and wasn’t expected to change the overall outcome.
Trump, who for months has sowed unsubstantiated doubt about the integrity of mail-in votes, has also made claims of widespread fraud in the presidential race in Georgia.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff have vehemently rebuffed those claims, stating unequivocally that there is no evidence of systemic errors or fraud in last month’s election. Yet Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, both Republicans, have joined the push to require a photo ID for absentee voting.
“Voters casting their ballots in person must show a photo ID, and we should consider applying that same standard to mail-in balloting,” Kemp said in remarks streamed live online.
The photo ID idea has support among several members of the state Legislature, including Republican Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan. “I don’t think there should be different standards for the same process,” Dugan said in an interview.
While Republicans seem ready to press forward with the photo ID requirement during the upcoming legislative session, Democrats and civil rights organizations are raising alarms.
With no evidence of widespread fraud or other problems in the election, it doesn’t make sense to talk about measures that could ultimately prove to be barriers to voting, said Andrea Young, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia.
Young says adding a photo ID requirement for absentee voting would be harmful because “we know that these barriers have a different impact on African American voters, on younger voters and, in this instance, on seniors who have certainly earned the right” to vote.