Georgia Democratic Leaders Issue Statement on GOP Voter Suppression Efforts

Atlanta, March 26, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- “Yesterday, Georgia Republicans put the big lie into law. Just mere days ago, Senate Bill 202 was a two-page bill. Since then, it has been expanded to 94 pages, passed the House and Senate, and been signed by the Governor. SB 202 claims to ‘make it easy to vote and hard to cheat.’ We disagree. It makes it easy to cheat and hard to vote, the latter being especially true for Blacks, Latinos, Asians, young people, and seniors. Under this new law, the Georgia General Assembly will consolidate power and authority over our elections. Those in power within the state legislature will have the ability to appoint the State Election Board chair, remove local election superintendents who commit violations over two election cycles, overrule State Election Board emergency rules, reduce runoff elections to 28 days, all while imposing mandates upon local governments. Beyond this power grab, this legislation intentionally criminalizes civic engagement of non-profits who supported the fairness of elections. The Governor's signing of the legislation behind closed doors only illustrates the fact that the public is not with him on SB202 or any other voter suppression measure. This omnibus bill of voter suppression was rushed and forced through both chambers to catch Georgia voters off guard. But Georgia voters will remember. They will remember a silent business community that stood by as their donations funded suppression. They will remember legislators blaming voters for not reading the 94 page document despite it being available online for a mere 24 hours. They will take these memories to the voting booth, and once again overcome the challenges and hurdles voting in the 21st century. We, the undersigned, condemn these voter suppression efforts in the strongest possible terms, and will work tirelessly to make sure Georgia voters never forget what happened today." Signed: Minority Leader of the Georgia House James Beverly Chair of the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus Tonya Anderson