Stockbridge passes resolution opposing state’s new voting law

Council members call restrictions ‘unconscionable.’

he Stockbridge City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution opposing new state voting measures that many say suppress access to the ballot box.

Council members of the Henry County city, all of whom are Black, called Senate Bill 202 “unconscionable” and said it was an attack on the right to vote similar to those popular during the Jim Crow era.

“I remember when we were not allowed to vote so this is real to me,” said Councilman Alphonso Thomas, recalling that his grandparents and his mother weren’t allowed to vote when he was young.

TSB 202, which Gov. Brian Kemp signed last week, curbs when drop boxes are available for voters’ use, makes it illegal to distribute water and food to people waiting in line, requires ID numbers to vote absentee and allows the State Election Board to take over county election boards.

Mayor Pro Tem Elton Alexander said the voting restrictions, pushed by Republicans in the state legislature, reminded him of their involvement in the cityhood effort three years ago that nearly tore Stockbridge apart.

In 2018, residents of the well-heeled Eagle’s Landing subdivision sought to create their own city by de-annexing the community from Stockbridge. The move that was approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal.

Voters defeated the measure in a November referendum that year.

“Just a few years ago our city found ourselves under attack by the very same General Assembly and they were trying to take half of our city and de-annex it against our wishes,” Alexander said. “We put up a fight.”

The Stockbridge City Council passed a resolution Tuesday opposing the new voting guidelines.