ANALYSIS | New Georgia Law Suppressing Voting Is a Trump Win | CNN

New electoral rules could affect voting in the US 2:46

(CNN) -

-Former United States President Donald Trump's campaign of lies about the theft of the elections has just won a great victory with a new Georgia law that could suppress the votes of many of the citizens who helped expel him from the White House.

Republican state lawmakers rushed to pass a sweeping law Thursday, making it difficult to vote and disproportionately targeting Democratic and black voters on a vital battlefield for the 2020 elections and future presidential and congressional races.

The move confirms Georgia as the epicenter of the struggle for American democracy that unfolded during Trump's presidency and during the insurrection he incited against the US Capitol and now threatens to tarnish future elections as Republicans in several states are seeking new laws to limit voting.

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“What worries me is how un-American this whole initiative is.

She is sick.

She's sick, ”President Joe Biden said at the first press conference of his presidency on Thursday afternoon.

Georgia's law raises the question of whether electoral safeguards that impeded Trump's energetic efforts to manipulate the 2020 White House race after the fact in the state will stand firm in future elections amid false claims of voter fraud by part of a president.

It was drafted after Democrats won Georgia in the presidential election for the first time since 1992, amid massive turnout nationwide as voting methods, including mail-in ballots, expanded to make it easier for Americans to comply. with their fundamental democratic rights during a pandemic.

Georgia Republicans also lost two US Senate seats that gave Democrats control of the House with a 50-50 tie based on large turnout by blacks in the January special election.

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After leaving office, Trump demanded that Republican state legislatures pass laws to prohibit voting by mail and prevent courts from intervening in election disputes.

Using his enormous popularity in the Republican Party, the former president has made the acceptance of his false conspiracy theories about voter fraud in 2020 a litmus test for Republican candidates seeking his support in the upcoming primary elections.

The Georgia bill is just one example of the Republican Party's efforts in several states, including many crucial electoral battlegrounds, to stem a diverse demographic tide in cities that favor Democrats, which critics see as an attempt to cement minority government in the United States.

Iowa has already passed a measure to limit absentee voting and voting hours.

Texas is taking steps to reduce voting hours and absentee voting in big Democratic cities like Houston.

Republicans are pushing for new voting laws in another swing state that Trump lost, Arizona.

Georgia law sparks new debate

Republican leaders justify voter suppression measures by arguing that they are necessary to crack down on fraud and restore the public's faith in the fairness of American elections.

But multiple courts and Trump's own Justice Department found that there was no widespread voter fraud in 2020. And voter distrust was largely fueled by Trump's blatantly false claims that he had been ripped off in a corrupt election. , claims that were incessantly broadcast by the conservative media.

Georgia's action throws a political grenade into the debate over a campaign in Washington by many Democrats to abolish Senate supermajority rules that Republicans could use to block their broad election bill, known as the Law For the People.

The measure would set national standards and reverse restrictions like those that are now law in Georgia.

Republicans call the Democratic bill an unconstitutional takeover.

The drama in the Georgia Legislature unfolded as Biden condemned restrictive state legislation as a holdover from the Jim Crow era that institutionalized racism and hinted that it could ultimately endorse the abolition of Senate filibuster so that the bill. law passed by the Democratic House of Representatives will go to plenary session.

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But Biden declined to reveal his strategy for signing the voting rights bill into law.

The new law in Georgia requires stricter voter verification requirements for absentee ballots, allows state officials to take charge of election boards, and limits the ballot boxes that make it easier for people to vote.

The law allows any Georgian to submit unlimited challenges to the voter registers and, incredibly, makes it a misdemeanor for anyone to offer food and water to voters trapped in long lines to cast their vote.

Black voters who are hampered by voting restrictions in urban areas have often found themselves queuing for hours to vote in bad weather.

The clear targeting of black voters in Georgia and elsewhere recalls some of the ugliest racial episodes of America's past and is fueling complaints of outright Republican racism.

A governor criticized by Trump signs the new law

The Georgia law was quickly signed by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who drew the ire of Trump last year for refusing to play along with his attempt to overturn Biden's victory by 12,000 votes in the state, which was confirmed by various audits.

Kemp said the law "makes it easier to vote and harder to cheat."

In a statement to CNN, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who challenged Trump's pleas in a phone call to find votes to overturn Biden's victory, said he would continue to defend voters' freedoms but did not criticize. the law.

"By implementing this law, I will ensure that no eligible Georgia voter is hindered in exercising their right to vote, and I will continue to secure our elections so that all Georgians can have confidence in the results of our elections," Raffensperger said.

Earlier this week, Trump announced that he was backing Rep. Jody Hice in her effort to beat Raffensperger in a primary race.

Kemp's swift signing was another sign of the fierce pressure Republican politicians hoping for a political future face from Trump and his acolytes in their states.

Kemp is set for re-election in 2022 and could face Democrat Stacey Abrams, a former state legislator and prominent voting rights advocate who played a crucial role in Biden's victory in Georgia.

"As the FBI continues to rally the seditious who have shed blood to defend a lie about our elections, Republican state leaders deliberately undermine democracy by giving themselves authority to override results they do not like," Abrams said in a statement.

"Now, more than ever, Americans must demand federal action to protect voting rights as we continue to fight these blatantly unconstitutional efforts that are nothing less than Jim Crow 2.0."

Georgia's law, which critics fear could allow state officials to deny counties the right to certify their own election results, and other measures that suppress the vote are likely to face rigorous challenges in court.

In fact, as of Thursday night, three voting rights groups had already filed a lawsuit against Georgia's law.

Damon Hewitt, acting chairman and chief executive of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a nonpartisan organization, said the measure was aimed at voters of color who participated in record numbers in the 2020 elections.

"This should be designated Exhibit A to argue that discriminatory voter suppression is alive and well, and makes clear why we need federal voting rights legislation to stop these laws in their tracks," Hewitt said.

"We are ready to take action and protect the fundamental right to vote through the courts."

The Law For the People awaiting action in the Senate would create an automatic voter registry nationwide and would reinstate parts of the Voting Rights Law that were destroyed by the Supreme Court.

It would also strengthen voting by mail and allow early voting nationwide, while taking steps to reduce wait times at the polls.

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