TIME: After Georgia Flips Blue, Voting Rights Advocates Brace for New Voting Restrictions

On Jan. 5, the nation’s eyes were locked on Georgia, as the state’s voters decided the fate of the next U.S. Senate in two tight runoff races. By the next day, as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol Building in D.C., few took notice of the fact that another extraordinary scene was unfolding in Atlanta. Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff left Georgia’s statehouse—surrounded by state troopers— as a group of about 100 pro-Trump protesters gathered outside the building, some of them armed.

Both President Donald Trump and the two Republican candidates who lost in January’s Senate runoffs had repeatedly called for Raffensperger’s ouster, based on unfounded claims of fraud in the presidential election. Georgia’s Capitol Police say Raffensperger was not “evacuated,” and note no one was arrested in connection with the incident. But Georgia’s voting system implementation manager Gabriel Sterling told the Associated Press, “We saw stuff happening at the Georgia Capitol and said we should not be around here. We should not be a spark.”

The voting officials’ rushed departure that day is part of a swift political backlash in Georgia since President-elect Joe Biden and two Democratic Senators flipped the red state blue. While Trump supporters in the state who believe the election was stolen gather in public and social media platforms, Republican lawmakers in the legislature have turned their attention to establishing a host of new voting restrictions they say are necessary to prevent future fraud and “secure (the) electoral process.”

The state legislative session kicked off on Monday, and voting rights groups expect Georgia Senate Republicans to follow through on a Dec. 8 caucus statement expressing concern over abuse of “elections process” and support for eliminating no-excuse absentee voting, requiring photo ID for absentee voting and outlawing ballot drop boxes.

Voting rights advocates say the proposed changes are part of a long-running effort to disenfranchise Black voters, particularly by limiting absentee voting. The raft of measures would make it harder to vote, they say, disproportionately impacting minority and working-class voters, as well as the elderly, disabled and anyone who has a 9 to 5 job or needs additional childcare. …

Voting rights groups say the atmosphere in Georgia has been increasingly tense in recent months as they’ve worked to get out the vote. Aunna Dennis, executive director of Common Cause Georgia, has been wary of what she describes as “angry mobs” at the Capitol, explaining that “there has been a hostile presence with the Stop the Steal rallies.” As a Black woman, she feels particularly unsafe around the area which she is used to visiting as she does her election protection work, she adds.