Georgia election bill package caters to conservatives’ concerns

“It’s a big step. I really think this will help restore voter confidence in Georgia,” said Garland Favorito, co-founder of the group VoterGA, which opposes the state’s voting system and made unsubstantiated claims about counterfeit ballots being used in 2020. “Of course, we still wanted more, but these were good times.”

Heading into the 2024 presidential election, Republican legislators passed bills to challenge voters’ eligibility, eliminate computer codes to count ballots and guarantee more access for partisan poll watchers.

Additional provisions would add watermarks on ballots to prevent potential counterfeits, track ballots anytime they’re touched by poll workers, permit high-resolution photocopies of absentee ballots and require all absentee ballots to be counted by 8 p.m. on election night.

Trump has encouraged distrust in elections, repeatedly claiming at rallies — without evidence — that there was widespread fraud in Georgia.

Each year since the last presidential election, Republican legislators have passed laws aimed at appeasing their concerns, especially through Georgia’s 2021 voting law that tightened absentee voting rules by limiting drop boxes, requiring more ID and eliminating paperless online ballot requests.

Democrats and voting rights groups say lawmakers caved into conspiracy theories and election denial, resulting in needless security theater that will strain competent elections administration.

They’re especially alarmed by the bill that would set standards for activists to seek the removal of voter registrations of people who appear to have moved from Georgia. Since the 2020 election, conservative activists have challenged the eligibility of over 100,000 registrations, but county election boards have rejected most of their attempts.

“This legislation is the latest in a long line of Georgia election bills that does nothing to improve the voting process,” said Kristin Nabers, the Georgia director for the voting organization All Voting Is Local. “Instead, it will make it even easier for anyone to challenge the eligibility of a voter’s registration by allowing challengers to use unreliable websites that often have incorrect or outdated data.”

Just 42% of Republicans said they were confident that this year’s presidential election would be conducted fairly and accurately, according to a January poll by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Among all Georgia voters in the survey, 57% said they were confident.

House Governmental Affairs Chairman John LaHood said this year’s bills will make a difference to voters who want assurances that elections are accurate and secure.

“This is the most impactful election package to come out of this General Assembly since 2021,” said LaHood, a Republican from Valdosta. “Georgia will be in the spotlight in this national election, and it’s considered a swing state. We want to make sure we get it right.”

It’s unclear whether the bills will satisfy conservative election watchdogs who remain concerned that outdated registrations could be used to cast fraudulent absentee ballots. Few cases of ineligible voting have been confirmed by state election investigations.

Activists are preparing to file more challenges to Georgia voters before this year’s election.

“Our goal is to make it easier to vote but harder to cheat, and I think these bills go a long way toward that,” said Mark Davis, a Gwinnett County resident who analyzes voter registration lists and testified at a state Senate hearing on voter challenges in February. “There’s still some things left to do in the next session of the Legislature.”