With 2024 presidential contest looming, Georgia governor signs new election changes into law
ATLANTA– Gov. Brian Kemp signed legislation Tuesday that makes additional changes to Georgia’s election laws ahead of the 2024 presidential contest in the battleground state, including defining probable cause for removing voters from the voter rolls when their eligibility is disputed.
Republican activists — fueled by debunked theories of a stolen election — have challenged more than 100,000 voters in the state in recent years. The activists say they are rooting out duplicate records and removing voters who have left the state.
The bill Kemp signed — SB 189 — lists death, proof of voting or registration in another jurisdiction, a tax exemption indicating a primary residence elsewhere, or a non-residential address as likely reasons to remove voters from the voter rolls. Most controversially, it is said that the National Change of Address List can be taken into account, but not exclusively.
Opponents have said the changes would allow more baseless attacks on voters, which would overwhelm election administrators and disenfranchise legitimate voters. For example, people sometimes live at a business location, which would be considered a non-residential address. Officials for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger say there are more reliable types of information, such as driver’s license information, to confirm a voter’s eligibility.
The Georgia bill also allows challenges to be accepted and voters to be removed from the rolls up to 45 days before the election. This provision has led in part to the threat of lawsuits from liberal groups because federal law says states and provinces cannot make systematic changes to voting rolls within 90 days of a federal election.
The measure also means homeless people would have to use the county voter registration office as their address instead of where they live. Opponents have said this could make it more difficult for homeless citizens to vote because their registered polling place could be far away.
In addition, the bill grants ballot access in Georgia to any political party that has qualified for presidential elections in at least twenty states or territories. The change would allow independent candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could strengthen, whose campaign has spooked Democrats as they worry support would be pulled away from President Joe Biden.