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Georgia Republicans didn’t like the results of the 2020 election so they decided they would try to dictate who they will let vote and who they won’t let vote. Republican legislators have deliberately targeted Black and brown Georgians with a disgraceful string of bills that harken back to the dark days of Jim Crow in Georgia. If anyone has any doubts whatsoever about the racial targeting of this proposed legislation they need look no further than its ban on weekend early voting which will end Souls to the Polls, the longstanding tradition of Black congregations in Georgia going to vote after Sunday services.

The Georgia Legislature’s practice of leaving the public out of “the people’s business” reached a new low today. At 3pm, the House Special Committee on Election Integrity started a hearing on HB 531, a 48-page “omnibus” bill on elections filed by Republican lawmakers – which was filed only two hours ago.

Today, two special subcommittees of the Georgia Senate Committee on Ethics acted on legislation that would add new barriers to voting. The subcommittee meetings were held with little public notice, at 7:00 in the morning, and without video streaming.

Our country is in the midst of a racial justice movement. Now is not the time to take the Republicans’ voting system from 2005 and add draconian attacks on ballot access that would disproportionately impact voters of color.  Voters bear enough burdens trying to make our voices heard. Legislators should stop their efforts to sideline the voters they are supposed to be serving.

Common Cause Georgia calls on Secretary Raffensperger and Attorney General Carr to immediately refer the investigation to the federal Department of Justice, and then to cooperate with that investigation.

On the heels of a string of proposed legislation that aims to roll back Georgia voters’ access to the ballot, Georgia Votes held a press conference demanding fair and transparent election laws for the state. The collaborative rejected baseless claims of voter fraud and emphasized a need to expand, rather than suppress, the voting rights of communities across the state.