Special House Committee Holding Hearing on “Omnibus” Voting Legislation the Public Has Never Seen

Statement of Common Cause Executive Director Aunna Dennis

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.

No information about the bill is available on the General Assembly website.

The bill is full of attacks on our voting system – every bit of it, from county oversight to availability of absentee ballots.

This is the same voting system that a Republican-led Legislature and a Republican Governor established 15 years ago. The voting system that produced results in November that were upheld by multiple audits, multiple recounts and dozens of court cases.

Now our Republican legislators want to slash away at their own system, without any public input.

This bill is Jim Crow with a suit and tie.

Georgia’s voters deserve better than to be shut out of legislators’ discussions – particularly when those discussions involve new barriers to voting.

Voting is the foundation of American democracy. By aiming at our ability to cast ballots, Georgia’s legislators are striking at the very core of our government.

These legislators may be acting on behalf of their party interests or their political donors. They are certainly not acting on behalf of the people of Georgia.

Read yesterday’s release, Senate Subcommittees Consider Anti-Voting Bills ‘in the dark’  here.

Read Tuesday’s release, Anti-Voter Bills are ‘steamrolling through the legislative process’ here.