Georgia’s GOP-led Senate passes bill requiring ID for absentee voting
February 27, 2021 in News by RBN Staff
source: thehill.com
by ARIS FOLLEY
The Georgia state Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would require voters to submit a driver’s license number, state identification card number or a photocopy of an approved form of identification in order to vote absentee in the state.
Senate Bill 67 passed the upper chamber in 35-18 vote on Tuesday and now heads to the state House for consideration, The Associated Press reports.
The bill has already been met with opposition from Democrats and voting rights groups who say the legislation would make it difficult for voters who don’t have a driver’s license or state identification card to vote absentee. According to the AP, absentee ballots are currently tallied using signature verification.
State Sen. Larry Walker, one of the Republicans sponsoring the bill, said the bill would not affect about 97 percent of voters, according to the AP. The remaining percentage of voters, Walker said, could vote in person.
In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, voting rights group Fair Fight Action said the bill would add “needless barriers to voting in Georgia” and accused proponents of the measure of ignoring voters who would be affected by the legislation.
“In Georgia, with more than 7,692,567 registered voters, that means that 230,777 electors may not have the requisite identification and will therefore incur a burden in complying with the law,” the group said, while also adding that the “discriminatory policy” shows “Georgia has not moved past the racist motivations for which it was included in preclearance under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.”
The bill, which has more than 25 Republican co-sponsors, is one of a number of bills Republicans have filed in the Georgia General Assembly that would directly impact voting, particularly absentee voting, and voter registration in the state.
Another bill advanced by a state Senate subcommittee in a party-line 3-2 vote would, if passed, require Georgians who wish to vote by absentee to meet certain requirements in order to do so. As of now, the state does not require voters to have a reason to vote absentee.
