Ga. lawmakers pass GOP election reform bill amid outcry

ATLANTA — Lawmakers in Georgia gave final passage Thursday to GOP-sponsored legislation that seeks a sweeping overhaul of state election law, including provisions adding new restrictions on voting by mail and giving the legislature greater control over how elections are run.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp said he planned to quickly sign the bill into law Thursday evening.

Democrats and voting rights groups said the bill would disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color. It is part of a wave of GOP-backed election bills introduced in states around the nation after former President Donald Trump stoked false claims that fraud led to his 2020 election defeat.

Republican efforts to change voting laws in Georgia followed record-breaking turnout that led to Democratic victories in the presidential contest and two U.S. Senate runoffs in the once reliably red state.

With Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed, the bill passed the state House 100-75. It then was quickly agreed to by Republicans in the Senate, which voted 34-20 in favor.

Among highlights, the bill would require a photo ID in order to vote absentee by mail, after more than 1.3 million Georgia voters used that option during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also would cut the time period people have to request an absentee ballot and limit where ballot drop boxes can be placed and when they can be accessed.

One of the biggest changes would give the GOP-controlled legislature more control over election administration, a change that has raised concerns among voting rights groups that it could lead to greater partisan influence.

The bill would replace the elected secretary of state as the chair of the state election board with a new appointee of the legislature after Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger rebuffed Trump’s attempts to overturn Georgia’s election results. It also would allow the board to remove and replace county election officials deemed to be underperforming.