It's not looking good for Republicans trying to suppress the vote of Georgians. Almost 75,000 new voters have registered to vote in the state's upcoming Senate runoff, and 57% of them are under 35 years old, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. “Georgians learned on Nov. 3 that if they register and vote, that their vote has power,” Fair Fight Action spokesman Seth Bringman told the newspaper. “If Georgians used their collective power, we could create change in our state.”
The Georgia runoff is Jan. 5. Click here to request an absentee ballot.
President-elect Joe Biden beat President Donald Trump by more than 11,000 votes in Georgia, flipping the state blue for the first time since 1992 when most Georgia voters backed former President Bill Clinton. Propelled by the coronavirus pandemic, many voters opted to cast absentee ballots in the presidential election. So Republicans, likely noticing the writing on the wall, are trying their hardest to restrict voting by mail.
GOP lawsuits aimed at tightening rules on using drop boxes to return absentee ballots will be heard today in Georgia, Politico reported. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who are up against Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in the runoffs, said in a joint statement Politico obtained last week that their lawsuit is aimed at "reasonable and actionable steps we can take immediately to further ensure the integrity and accuracy of our January 5 elections."
“Georgia election officials, from the state level to the local level, have undertaken significant efforts to assure the integrity of the Georgia election process in the runoff,” attorneys said in the suit. “Those efforts should be commended, and this lawsuit is brought to augment and further improve them.” The suit also claims "there are constitutional flaws in the current process for checking absentee voter signatures that must be remedied before county clerks begin processing absentee ballots on December 21."
Even though photo identification is required to obtain an absentee ballot in Georgia, Republicans maintain in the suit that the vote-by-mail process doesn't go far enough to verify signatures. Attorneys stated in the suit:
"When votes are cast in person, Georgia requires photo identification to protect the integrity of the election process. O.C.G.A. 21-2-417. In contrast, absentee ballots are verified by signature comparison, not secure photo identification. By statute, a single election official compares the signature on the absentee ballot oath to the voters’ signature on file. O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386(B). If the signature is missing or rejected, then the ballot is segregated and the office contacts the voter to provide an opportunity to cure the invalid ballot. O.C.G.A. § 21-2-386(C). As explained in more detail below, many counties in Georgia in the November 3, 2020 general election accepted virtually all absentee ballot signatures, rejecting impossibly low numbers of mismatched signatures, and even failing to find any missing signatures. The lax signature validation process stands in conflict with any fair or consistent process for verifying signatures."
The suit, which is obviously nothing more than a shot at legal justification for Trump's election loss, alleges things that Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger himself has repeatedly denied. “Let me be clear: Before an absentee ballot is ever cast, a signature match is confirmed twice,” he said. “Not once, twice. As in the signature is matched twice. I don’t know how much clearer I can make that for everyone to understand.” More than 378,000 voters have already cast vote-by-mail ballots in Georgia, and more than 846,000 absentee ballots have been sent to voters but not yet returned, Politico reported.
Sen. Rand Paul and his ilk apparently couldn’t care less about those who’ve already legally obtained absentee ballots actually being able to cast their votes. He flat out opposed Fox News solicitations encouraging Georgia voters to vote by mail, and admitted his concern is purely political. “I’m very, very concerned that if you solicit votes from typically non-voters, that you will affect and change the outcomes,” he said. “I’m very worried the Democrats will control all three branches of government, and they really truly will transform America but not for the better.”
RELATED: Georgia is changing, and 75,000 new registered voters for the runoff is proof
Let’s give GOP Leader Mitch McConnell the boot! Give $4 right now so McConnell can suffer the next six years in the minority.