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The U.S. state of Georgia has just passed a significant new law concerning elections.
It's making news not only because it affects how voting is handled in the "Peach State" but because several other states are looking at passing similar laws and many of these changes are opposed by the Biden Administration. Here's what's new in Georgia.
Early voting will be expanded in most places meaning people will have more days and longer hours when they can vote in person. For runoff elections when a second vote is held because no candidate clearly won the first, these will be shortened from nine weeks to four weeks.
For absentee ballots, when people don't vote in person, voters will be required to show a form of identification like a driver's license or state ID number when they request or turn in an absentee ballot. And they'll have to request these ballots and send them back sooner as well.
The new law also says that within a certain distance of a polling place or voters standing in line, it's illegal to display campaign material or to offer gifts, food or drinks to voters. People who oppose this part of the law say it's wrong to prevent getting food or water to those who are waiting. Supporters of the rule say handouts to voters can unfairly influence whom they vote for. There's a partisan divide in general over voting changes like these.
Republicans generally support them saying they're needed to protect the fairness of elections and prevent voter fraud especially when it comes to mailed in ballots. Democrats generally oppose these changes saying they make it harder for people to vote and that they unfairly target voters who traditionally support Democrats. U.S. President Joe Biden says he'll do everything he can to stop similar efforts to change voting laws.
Last November, he became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win in Georgia since 1992 and two Democrats won U.S. Senate seats in Georgia's runoff elections in January. Bills to tighten up voting access have been introduced recently in more than 40 U.S. states. What remains to be seen is how many of these states will pass new election laws and whether the Federal government will set new national rules.
