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After our big voter turnout in November 2020 helped elect Joe Biden, and the January 2021 runoff victories of Senators Warnock and Ossoff, the Georgia legislature was the first in the nation to pass a massive and contentious voting bill. It was written largely behind closed doors, and spoon fed by the right wing think tank, the Federalist Society. The bill, Senate Bill 202, codified a variety of changes to Georgia election laws that amount to voter suppression by a thousand tiny cuts. Republicans realized that to cling to power in a changing state, they had to make it harder for people to vote, especially people of color. Also, Georgia set the bar for other voter suppression bills that have passed in a number of states.
Democrats in Congress proposed bills that would have either eliminated or blunted some of the restrictions of some of these recent state laws. Despite Republican talking points that these federal bills were a take-over of elections by the federal government, the bills, in fact, were designed to provide a minimum level of protections for voting nationwide, and federal election administration procedures. The Constitution specifically grants the federal government this power. However, because of the filibuster and absolutely no Republican support, it looks these bills are dead for the time being. It now seem clear that the federal cavalry is not coming to help us protect our elections.
Georgians who care about fair and safe elections must take a sober look at some of the changes mandated by SB 202 as well as other concerns that will come into play for the 2022 elections. We also need to embrace concrete tasks to promote easier, safer voting.
The specific mandates of SB 202 fall into two big buckets. First are changes that affect the individual voter experience. In this bucket we find requirements including the reduction of time to apply for an absentee ballot, and restricted access to drop boxes for completed ballots. In the other bucket are changes and new requirements for the processing and counting of ballots after the polls close. This article gives a more comprehensive explanation of the changes.
Some of the most concerning changes for the voter are the several changes that make it harder to vote absentee, or vote by mail, including the additional ID requirements and the reduced time to apply for an absentee ballot. In the recent November 2021 municipal elections, which operated under SB 202 rules, the percentage of absentee voting dropped dramatically. Clearly the difficulty of voting absentee and confusion around the change has already had an effect.
The second bucket of changes dictated by the legislature through SB 202 concerns ballot counting after the polls have closed, which are also described in the article linked above. Some changes involve shortening the time for tabulating ballots, dictating “round the clock” counting, requiring special “security” paper for the ballot printers, creating new chain of custody procedures, and mandating that poll watchers from political parties or candidates “be able to fairly observe procedure at ballot tabulation centers.”
Voter activists have expressed concern about many aspects that relate to the upcoming elections. One particular concern is the lack of funding. In 2020, an estimated $30 million of private philanthropic donations came to Georgia to help fund election staffing, hazard pay, absentee ballot postage costs, equipment, voter outreach and personal protective gear because of COVID. But now, SB 202 prohibits county boards of elections from accepting any outside donations to help defray costs. The state so far has neither recognized the need nor provided additional funding for elections in many Georgia counties, despite mandating additional duties. State Representative Bee Nguyen, who is also a Democratic candidate for Georgia’s secretary of state (SOS), is worried about the local boards of elections (BOE). “One of my concerns is that no one is looking for or advocating for BOEs and election workers. Not anyone. And there is not a cohesive strategy on funding or briefing local election boards to let them know what’s happening. No one is uplifting the fact that local election boards are really overwhelmed and they don’t have enough money nor staff.”
Another burden on election workers is the risk of threats and intimidation. Numerous incidents of this have been reported in the media. And just recently a man from Texas was arrested and charged by the newly established Department of Justice’s Task Force on Election Threats for making statements calling for violence against certain Georgia elections officials. “I’m grateful that the DOJ set up this task force. It is incredibly necessary. This one instance shows that this is exactly what we needed the DOJ to do in 2020. We need to take these threats seriously and we should expect this type of thing to be on the rise,” says Hillary Holley, Director of Organizing for Fair Fight Action and Fair Fight PAC.
“My biggest worry is the effect of combining all of these different changes along with the added scrutiny, the burn out and the threats of political violence,” says Vasu Abhiraman, Senior Policy Counsel of the ACLU of Georgia. “It’s just too much for election workers to deal with.”
Other concerns the Peach will examine in upcoming issues include election result audits, and Republican takeovers of boards of elections, which is described in this recent article. The question now is what are the opportunities and smart strategies available for Georgians to ensure smooth and fair elections?
First, we all should become informed voters. Not only do we have new voting procedures this year, but, because of redistricting, some voters will be in new or different political boundaries. The SOS My Voter Page should be updated with new districts for congressional, state senate and house boundaries by February 18, according to SOS manager Nick Northen. New local election districts, which are still being drawn, will be added later.
Second, we can participate in the administration of elections. Poll workers are usually employees of a county board of elections, hired to help handle all aspects of the voting process from sending out absentee ballots to counting and certifying votes. Many current election workers are retiring or quitting because of the risk of intimidation or discomfort with new electronic equipment. The ACLU of Georgia worked in the 2020 election to recruit, train and place election poll workers. You can read about what they did in 2020 here. And you can get information about this year’s effort and sign up here.
Poll watchers, sometimes called monitors, are volunteers who are appointed by the political parties to be inside precincts and count centers to observe. These watchers are given credentials and hopefully trained by the political parties and are not permitted to interact with voters or to interfere with or intimidate poll workers. Contact your political party for information about training and certification.
Several non-partisan groups also will be assembling volunteers to serve as non-partisan election protection workers, who will be deployed to precincts and early voting sites to answer voter questions outside of polling locations. These volunteers are trained in non-partisan assistance procedures. They can also assist voters in the ballot curing process. Another opportunity is to volunteer to staff election protection hotlines run by either the Democratic Party or the non-partisan Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights.
A third critical task is to monitor the Georgia legislature. While SB 202 mandated a number of changes, a handful of bills have already been introduced this current session that could place more restrictions on voters, unfunded mandates on counties, or requirements on election workers. Watch for information and action alerts from trusted groups like ACLU of Georgia, The Coalition for the People's Agenda, and the League of Women Voters of Georgia. And the General Assembly website includes meeting schedules, links to livestreams and information on bills.
While our congressional, state house and senate districts are now determined (pending legal challenges), local redistricting for county commissions, municipalities and school boards is still in process. The folks at Fair Maps Georgia have created this great tool kit to learn about how to get involved with this process in your community.
Sadly, this is not an exhaustive accounting of all the voting changes of concern. But despite the new voting procedure restrictions and the effects of redistricting, progressives do have reasons to be optimistic. Over the last few election cycles, a significant infrastructure of groups have developed staff capacity and hands-on experience in how to engage citizens and protect the voting process. From door knocking and phone banking, to legal election protection, Georgia now has both paid staff and volunteers who are armed with the knowledge, tools, and technology to overcome difficult barriers and to help elect representatives committed to making voting easier, not harder. We all need not only to support and cheer on these groups, but also to join in the efforts for a safer and fair election process. Our democracy surely needs our robust involvement.
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