Georgia
Ballot Security
What Politicians Say
Trump unsuccessfully pressured the Republican secretary of state to “find” 11,000 votes for him to overturn the results. Georgia was one of four states noted in a Texas lawsuit before the Supreme Court that sought to block Congress from certifying electors, an act that would have prevented President Joe Biden’s victory from being officially recorded. State officials stood by the election, and two separate statewide recounts confirmed Biden’s win.
Following the election, Republican Governor Brian Kemp signed a 98-page bill that made sweeping changes to elections, including making it harder to vote by mail and giving the Republican legislature more power over local and state elections administrators. The bill sparked a corporate backlash from Georgia-based companies such as The Coca-Cola Co., and Delta Air Lines Inc, and Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star Game from the state.
Trump retaliated for his loss by recruiting former US Senator David Perdue, US Representative Jody Hice and John Gordon to run against Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and state Attorney General Chris Carr in the Republican primary. All three lost, signaling that Georgia Republican voters were put off by Trump’s interference.
Ease of Voting
The sweeping elections overhaul passed in 2021 restricted vote-by-mail, reduced the amount of time to request a mail-in ballot, barred elections administrators from sending out unrequested mail-in voting applications and severely limited ballot drop boxes.
The bill also banned mobile voting centers like the $750,000 RVs used by Fulton County in 2020 to reduce lines and quickly respond to problems at polling places, and barred third-party groups from handing out food and water to people waiting in line to vote.
Under the legislation, the secretary of state was removed as head of the State Election Board and a new position created. Kemp has since appointed former US District Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. to that post. The state board was also given the authority to suspend local elections administrators and name its own caretaker.
Voting rights advocates argued that both changes would effectively give Republican lawmakers more control over how elections are run in Democratic strongholds like Atlanta.
But supporters say the law requires a pattern of misconduct: local officials must have either a minimum of three violations of state election rules or a record of “demonstrated nonfeasance, malfeasance, or gross negligence” in two consecutive elections to be removed.
Ballot Security
The elections overhaul also added new voter ID requirements to vote-by-mail applications.
Previously, voters just had to sign the application. They are now required to also provide their driver’s license or other state ID number to request a mail-in ballot.
While Democrats criticized the change, research has shown problems with signature matching lead to higher rates of young, Black and Hispanic voters having their mail-in ballots rejected.
In the 2022 midterm primaries, the first elections held since the law went into effect, turnout set records and mail-in ballot rejection rates were low.
Supporters of the law said that showed that concerns over new restrictions were overblown, but voting rights advocates say they remain concerned about the general elections in November.
How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election
Georgia’s governor, secretary of state and attorney general all stood by the state’s election results in 2020 and defeated primary opponents this year who repeated Trump’s false claims.
Six of the state’s eight Republican US representatives objected to Biden electors on Jan. 6, and US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene also tried to raise another objection to Michigan’s electors which died for lack of a Senate counterpart.
Representative Jody Hice, ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for secretary of state, repeatedly making false claims about the 2020 election.