Changes to the electoral system approved during heated presidential campaign of 2024

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the Georgia governor, signed into law changes to election year laws on Tuesday. These include a stronger voter eligibility challenge system and more audits.

The three-bill package represents the latest Republican efforts to revise the election rules following the 2020 presidential elections, where many Donald Trump supporters said that they mistrusted voting processes after Donald Trump lost both in machine and manual vote counts.

These laws represent the most comprehensive revision to Georgia’s election law since 2021, when the focus was primarily on absentee voting regulations.

Brad Raffensperger, Secretary of State, praised Kemp’s signing of the election package which included many provisions requested by conservative activists in this year’s legislative session.

“Georgia has already been a leader nationally in terms of election integrity and security. We congratulate Governor. Raffensperger congratulated Kemp and the General Assembly for the passage of this bill, which contains additional measures to ensure election integrity.

These new laws, like the voting law of 2021, will probably be challenged in court. The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia said that it would sue for “baseless mass voting challenges.”

Andrea Young, Executive Director of the ACLU of Georgia said: “This bill would require already overburdened workers to spend their time on processing unnecessary voter questions.” “As usual, elected officials in Georgia should strive to make voting easier for citizens. We will take the Georgia governor to court for violating Georgia voter rights.

Fair Fight, a voting rights organization founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams called the law Kemp’s “latest voter suppress bill”.

Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh Wargo wrote on X that “everything the GOP does is about the 11,000 vote margin Biden won in 2020” — they are focused on finding ways they can shave votes off they don’t like and creating conditions to reverse results they don’t like. They’re using race neutral language to suppress racial groups.

Kemp vetoed Senate Bill 368 which would have banned foreign campaign contributions already prohibited by federal law but not found in Georgia.

The new laws give conservative activists the power to challenge the validity of voters who seem to have moved. This is a top priority for Republicans, who believe that outdated registrations can be used to commit fraud if they are not removed quickly. State Election Board investigations have confirmed few cases of illegal voting, but voting rights advocates claim that legitimate voters are being targeted.

Since Georgia’s election law of 2021, which allowed residents to contest unlimited registrations in their county, activists have challenged more than 100,000 registrations. Most of these challenges have been rejected by county election boards, usually because they do not have enough evidence to prove a voter’s eligibility to vote in Georgia.

The laws satisfy conservative demands, such as more access to partisan election observers and visible watermarks on ballots. They also eventually stop counting votes based on computerized QR codes that are not readable by humans.

There will also be fewer voting machines required at polling stations on election day. Third-party presidential candidates who are on the ballots in 20 or more other states will appear automatically on Georgia ballots.

Georgia election bills

House Bill 974 adds watermarks on ballots, displays pictures of ballots online, and requires more audits for statewide elections. It also uses technology to verify accuracy of text in ballots.

House Bill 1207: This bill requires that election workers be U.S. Citizens, permits fewer voting machines to be used on election day, ensures close access to poll watchers, and allows for candidates to check ballots to make sure they are free of errors.

Senate Bill 189: Modifies rules for mass voting challenges, removes computer QR codes on ballots, improves security of ballots and relaxes the requirements that third-party candidates appear on Georgia ballots.