Georgia’s state legislature has passed new voting reforms that, if signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, could have a major impact on 2024 elections in key battleground states.
Georgia’s House of Representatives passed Republican-backed Senate Bill 189 last week, and it now awaits Kemp’s signature or veto.
The bill would give parties that qualify for presidential votes in at least 20 states access to Georgia’s ballots, a change that would give independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a boost and steal votes from President Biden. It may be stolen.
The bill would also make certified ballots immediately available as public record for the purpose of expanding the reach of poll watchers on election day. It would also make it easier to audit voter rolls to ensure deceased residents or those who moved out of state are not eligible to vote.
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Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
Hans von Spakovsky, an election law expert and former Federal Election Commission commissioner, said the Georgia Legislature, through measures such as Senate Bill 189, is addressing some of the administrative issues highlighted by the 2020 election. He said he is trying to address the issue.
“The Georgia Legislature has been trying to fix the vulnerabilities that allowed some of these administrative problems to creep in,” von Spakovsky said in an interview on Fox News Digital.
Von Spakowski, who also served on the advisory board of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections, called the move an effort to make future elections “as transparent as possible.” I admired it.
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Georgia Senate Bill 189 would expand the reach of poll watchers by making certified ballots a public record. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Andrea Young, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia (ACLU), said the bill violates the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and threatened to sue if it becomes law.
Among other things, the NVRA, signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, prohibits states from removing registered voters from their voter rolls unless certain criteria are met.
“The majority in the Georgia General Assembly is determined to pass legislation that will undermine our democracy,” Young told local news station FOX 5. “This is a recipe for electoral chaos and we urge the governor to veto it.” I strongly urge them to exercise this right.”
But von Spakovsky said he saw nothing in the state’s action that violated the NVRA, and said similar legal challenges had failed in other states. He also called other election reforms in Georgia, such as requiring ID for absentee voting, a system that suppressed minority voters and amounted to “Jim Crow 2.0,” as President Biden said two years ago. He pointed out that the claim was proven to be false. Von Spakovsky pointed out that a survey conducted by the University of Georgia found that exactly 0% of black respondents said their voting experience in 2022 was “poor,” compared to 0.9% of white voters. did.
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(Former President Donald Trump (left) and President Biden are expected to face off again in the 2024 election in November.)
“I am confident that we will have a better election this year than in 2020,” von Spakovsky said.
Janae Stracke, vice president of outreach for the conservative group Heritage Action, said Georgia lawmakers “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat through common-sense proposals supported by a bipartisan majority. The effort deserves much praise.” Americans. ”
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“Free and fair elections are the foundation of our country, and everyone has the right to know that their vote will be accurately counted this November,” she said.
The ACLU did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
