Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed a new law Tuesday. He approved additional changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential contest, after signing a similar bill in 2021.
Liberal groups have accused Kemp of “voter suppression.”
In reality, the bill, SB 189, only defines probable causes for removing voters from the rolls.
It lists death, evidence of voting or registering in another jurisdiction, a tax exemption indicating a primary residence elsewhere, or a nonresidential address as probable causes for removing voters from the rolls. It says the National Change of Address list can be considered, though not exclusively.
Supporters have said the probable cause definition would make the challenge process more difficult for the state.
Opponents have disputed that, saying the changes would enable more baseless attacks on voters that would overwhelm election administrators and disenfranchise legitimate voters. For example, people sometimes live at a place of business, which would be considered a nonresidential address.
One opponent, the office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger says there are more reliable types of information, such as driver’s license data, to confirm a voter’s eligibility.
Liberal group Fair Fight Action slammed Kemp for singing the bill. The group described SB 189 as a “voter suppression bill that emboldens right-wing activists in their efforts to kick Black and brown voters off the rolls.”
Fair Fight Action was founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams, an election denier.
“By signing SB 189 to become law, Brian Kemp delivered a gift to MAGA election deniers,” the group said in a statement.
President Joe Biden had previously described Georgia’s previous election bill as “Jim Crow 2.0,” but he’s remained quieter on this bill.
Despite all the hullabaloo, Georgia voters likely have it easier now than 25 years ago. Georgia voters can still request absentee ballots without citing an excuse.
In fact, the new law even aims to give voters “timelines for the tabulation of absentee ballots and ballots cast by advance voting.”
The 24-page law also allows challenges to be accepted and voters removed from the rolls up until 45 days before an election. That provision in part has prompted the threat of lawsuits from liberal groups because federal law says states and counties can’t make systematic changes to voting rolls within 90 days of a federal election.
The measure also says homeless people must use the county voter registration office as their address instead of where they live.
The bill also grants access to Georgia’s ballot to any political party that has qualified for the presidential ballot in at least 20 states or territories. The change could bolster independent candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Other changes in the bill include removing Raffensperger from his ex-officio spot on the State Election Board. Kemp and Republican lawmakers had previously removed Raffensperger from his voting position on the board.
The bill, additionally, says that beginning July 1, 2026, the state can no longer use a kind of barcode called a QR code to count ballots created on the state ballot marking devices. That is how votes are counted now, but opponents say voters don’t trust QR codes because they can’t read them. Instead, the bill says ballots must be read using the text, or human-readable marks like filled-in bubbles, made by the machines.
The bill also requires counties to report the results of all absentee ballots by an hour after polls close. It also lets counties use paper ballots in elections in which fewer than 5,000 people are registered, though that change will not take effect until 2025.
Kemp on Tuesday vetoed a separate election bill that would ban political contributions by foreign nationals and impose additional registration requirements on agents of foreign principals. The governor noted that such donations are already prohibited by federal law, and he said some of the registration requirements were not intended by the bill’s sponsor.
In 2020, Georgia was — by percentage — the closest state in the presidential election.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.