The Georgia Reform Law: Who Wants Fair Elections?
There are a lot of partisan political issues out there, but election integrity shouldn’t be one of them. How can we verify every legal ballot, while also making sure that as many people as possible have the opportunity to vote? Here’s a hint: we’ve already done it. Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, explains.
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Script:
There are a lot of partisan political issues out there, but election integrity shouldn’t be one of them.
What could be more basic to the very concept of representative government than having citizens trust that an election—whether it be for President or dog catcher—was fairly won or fairly lost? Yet in the recent past this issue has become very contentious. For purposes of our discussion here, let’s put aside any feelings we might have regarding a specific election.
Here’s the conflict. One side is primarily concerned that all votes are legitimately cast; that is, each vote can be traced to the person voting. The other side is primarily concerned that as many people as possible have the opportunity to vote.
Now a very obvious question arises. Why are these two concerns incompatible? Well, the answer is: they are not. We should be able to both verify voters and make it easy to vote at the same time. Yes, even in politics, it should be possible to walk and chew gum simultaneously.
Let’s look to see how Georgia, where there has been much controversy over voting, has addressed this issue.
First concern: Voter ID.
The recent Georgia voter reform law requires voters to provide an ID to receive an absentee ballot. Since 2008, the state has required a voter to show a government-issued, photo ID when he or she votes in-person. To require the same level of security for absentee voting seems to make perfect sense. In fact, one wonders why this wasn’t addressed sooner. There’s simply no good evidence that possessing an ID presents a hardship to voting. Have you ever met anyone who didn’t have an ID? Anyone?
When a federal judge threw out the ACLU-led lawsuit against Georgia’s in-person voter ID law, he noted that in two years of litigation, the challengers could not produce a single resident of the state unable to vote because of the new ID requirement.
But wait, as they say in TV ads, there’s more! The new law says you can satisfy the voter ID requirement with a “copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address” of the would-be voter. It’s worth noting that the language on voter IDs for absentee ballots is identical to the language in the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 which passed the US Senate by a vote of 92-2. The Yes votes included then-Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.
Let’s move on to the second concern: making voting easy. The charge against Georgia’s new voting law is that it prohibits voters from access to water while they wait in line. One has to admit that sounds harsh. But, if we dig a little deeper, however, we find that like most other states Georgia prohibits electioneering within 150 feet of a polling place or within 25 feet of any voters waiting in line to vote.
The new law simply added that within such distances no one can “give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gift, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to any elector.”
In other words, a candidate, his supporters or an activist group can’t show up at a polling place with a truckload of Happy Meals and start handing them out to voters standing in line. The clear intent here is to prevent operatives from any party from unduly influencing voters with money or gifts, including food and drink.
The idea that Georgia is somehow doing something nefarious by preventing gift-giving at the polls is, to put it mildly, bizarre — especially considering that this is a standard practice (as it should be) in most other states including New York and New Jersey. By the way, the law says it’s okay for poll officials to make “self-service water from an unattended receptacle” available to “an elector waiting in line.” And, of course, you can bring a bottle of water with you if you’re worried that you’re going die of thirst waiting to vote.
For the complete script as well as FACTS & SOURCES, visit https://www.prageru.com/video/the-georgia-reform-law-who-wants-fair-elections
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The food thing is something I never heard of it would be like in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 if the democratic or republican candidate volunteers brought McDonald’s, or sonic at a polling place to voters
What a name, Hans von Spakovsky.
So Powerful.
Sounds legit.
11:16pm NZST
25 July 2022
So what you're telling me illegals that have an address and they have received a water bill or some other type of mail maybe from the government they would be able to vote without having a driver's license
I have friends who can’t drive, and they have no driver’s license. Now they already registered to vote, but how will they prove their identity with no driver’s license? Do they need to show their social security card to random strangers? And what if they lost it?
Very funny that a welfare state has laws against giving gifts to votes at the poles. I suppose they figure the gifts they hand out to voters every other day should be enough.
What about the myth that Dems say Republicans want a bill that removes ballot boxes from black neighborhoods but not white neighborhoods?
This video is so falsely put, most of the things weren't even presented what the problem was really about.
You forgot to mention how the law will also limit the number of polling places, there’s no purpose for that but political gain.
NOT EVEN AN ACCREDITED KINDERGARTEN. #PRAGUERU = #DOMESTICTERRORIST #UNIVERSITY
I gae voted in Swedish elections with
my personal ID, and I have never felt
unduly burdened by that .
1m views but only 10k like and dislikes combined?
Yes!! We need fair elections now. Voter ID!!!! 2020 election =Voter fraud!!!
Everyone needs to prove their identity in order to register to vote.
Voter ID is a BS story.
That's racist! Because, …. oh nevermind, you know, it's the thing
Seems pretty damn obvious that democrats oppose voting ID laws bc they would no longer be able to cheat… how is this not obvious to everyone?
I legitimately want to hear why some people are in favor of insecure elections directly from them. If you don't want to cheat, how do you defend your position? It is a truly bad sign for humanity that THIS is partisan. It should be common sense for everyone.
Ope.. mike drop.
I don't think any of these propaganda news agencies losing their mind over the "racist" reform law spent a minute reporting on the news conference of Gov Kemp and Sherrif Roundtree talking about the largest gang bust in Georgia history. If you look it up you'll know why.
This is literally Nazi propaganda. You are actually național socialists.
The same election system that elected Trump is now broken for electing Biden. So transparent.
Ah yes. PragerU propaganda at its best.
The whole "common sense" facade of the Right, that they love, and love to present themselves as having done nothing wrong.
You failed to address the Sunday voting restriction.
That suppresses the voting ability of church-goers.
You also failed to address the reduction of voting polls in neighborhoods of Democrat voters, particularly Black neighborhoods.
The dumb sheep here are grazing at these fields of misinformation.
No one is going to put water stations every 10 feet so there isn't a need to leave the line. Why not allow water to be passed out on the condition that there's no electioneering?
Hmm so in the US you want peolpe to choose the new leaders that can be persuade with a bottle of water who they will vote for.
You need a ID for cigarettes, alcohol, drive, and bank account withdrawal! WHY not to VOTE!?
You need a ID for cigarettes, alcohol, drive, and bank account withdrawal! WHY not to VOTE!?
We not only want fair elections, we need them.
There is so much more to the Georgia bill than just these 2 items (voter ID – which is still popular among Dems as well – and the food/drink) that is upsetting people, so this video explaining these two aspects, then decrying criticism of the whole bill as suspect is just as dishonest and tribal as all the headlines calling foul about "no food and drink in line? How draconian!"
When I voted in 2020 I did my research on every person on the ballot for every office and wrote down who I wanted to vote for. At the polls I asked if it would be okay to use the list or if I had to memorize it. I was told I could use my list.
The official also said that he chose the local elections at random. A man who was working the election machines didn't have the time to learn about who he was voting for and threw what amounted to static into the election.
I don't want to silence anyone with an opinion, but something in the messaging on "what it means to participate in a free election" has gone wrong when "close your eyes and point" is a valid way to fill out a ballot. If you don't HAVE an opinion to vote on, why are you voting in the first place?
Yes I have met people without their IDs