The Georgia Reform Law: Who Wants Fair Elections?
There are a great deal of partisan political issues out there, but election integrity shouldn’t be among them. How can we validate every legal ballot, while also making sure that as lots of people as possible have the opportunity to vote? Here’s a tip: we’ve already done it. Hans von Spakovsky, Senior Legal Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, describes.
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Script:.
There are a lot of partisan political problems out there, but election integrity should not be one of them.
What could be more fundamental to the extremely concept of representative federal government than having residents trust that an election– whether it be for President or pet catcher– was fairly won or relatively lost? In the current past this problem has ended up being extremely contentious. For functions of our discussion here, let’s put aside any sensations we might have concerning a specific election.
Here’s the conflict. One side is mainly worried that all votes are legally cast; that is, each vote can be traced to the individual ballot. The other side is mainly concerned that as lots of people as possible have the opportunity to vote.
Why are these 2 issues incompatible? We must be able to both verify citizens and make it easy to vote at the very same time.
Let’s look to see how Georgia, where there has actually been much controversy over voting, has addressed this problem.
Issue: Voter ID.
The recent Georgia citizen reform law needs citizens to offer an ID to get an absentee ballot. Because 2008, the state has needed a voter to reveal a government-issued, photo ID when he or she votes in-person. There’s merely no great proof that having an ID provides a hardship to voting.
When a federal judge tossed out the ACLU-led claim versus Georgia’s in-person citizen ID law, he kept in mind that in two years of litigation, the oppositions might not produce a single resident of the state not able to vote because of the new ID requirement.
The new law says you can satisfy the voter ID requirement with a “copy of a present energy bill, bank declaration, federal 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 citizen IDs for absentee ballots is similar to the language in the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 which passed the United States Senate by a vote of 92-2.
Let’s move on to the second concern: making voting simple. The charge versus Georgia’s new ballot law is that it prohibits citizens from access to water while they wait in line. One has to confess that sounds severe. However, if we dig a little deeper, nevertheless, we find that like the majority of other states Georgia prohibits electioneering within 150 feet of a ballot place or within 25 feet of any citizens waiting in line to vote.
The new law simply included that within such ranges no one can “offer, use to provide, or take part in the offering of any money or gift, including, but not restricted to, food and beverage, to any elector.”.
Simply put, a prospect, his supporters or an activist group can’t appear at a ballot location with a truckload of Happy Meals and begin handing them out to voters standing in line. The clear intent here is to prevent operatives from any celebration from unduly affecting citizens with money or presents, including food and drink.
The concept that Georgia is in some way doing something nefarious by avoiding gift-giving at the surveys is, to put it mildly, unusual– particularly thinking about that this is a basic practice (as it should be) in the majority of other states consisting of New York and New Jersey. By the way, the law says it’s okay for survey officials to make “self-service water from an unattended receptacle” readily available to “an elector waiting in line.” And, naturally, 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 total script along with FACTS & SOURCES, check out https://www.prageru.com/video/the-georgia-reform-law-who-wants-fair-elections.
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The recent Georgia citizen reform law requires citizens to provide an ID to get an absentee ballot. Given that 2008, the state has needed a voter to reveal a government-issued, photo ID when he or she votes in-person. The brand-new law says you can please the voter ID requirement with a “copy of a present energy costs, bank statement, government check, income, or other federal government document that reveals the name and address” of the potential voter. It’s worth noting that the language on voter IDs for absentee ballots is similar to the language in the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 which passed the United States Senate by a vote of 92-2. If we dig a little much deeper, nevertheless, we find that like a lot of other states Georgia forbids electioneering within 150 feet of a polling location or within 25 feet of any voters waiting in line to vote.
