Peach Tree Times

As the state of Georgia is pushing to prevent voter fraud by creating stricter voting laws, the president has since shared his displeasure with Georgia's voting plan. 

After the 2020 election politicians have remained divided on how to run the country's election process, and who should be permitted to participate. 

On March 26, President Joe Biden called Georgia’s recently passed Senate Bill 202 the “Jim Crow in the 21st Century" in a statement published by CNN.

Georgia’s SB 202 institutes a voter ID requirement, provides free voter ID, promotes ballot dropbox security, forms stricter rules for absentee voting, expands access to early voting— promoting robust protections of election integrity, according to the text of the bill itself.

According to Heritage Action, Georgia’s new election law SB 202 will require a driver’s license or a state ID, something that 97% of registered Georgia voters have and can easily obtain. This requirement is highly popular in Georgia. According to an AJC poll in January, 74% of Georgia voters support it, including 63% of black voters, and 89% of those making under $25K/year.

The law also gives the Georgia State Board of Elections greater authority over local boards, the Associated Press reported. In an explainer report about the voting law, the AP wrote, "The law gives the State Election Board new powers to intervene in county election offices and to remove and replace local election officials." 

Despite this, Biden has expressed he feels there is no need to add to Georgia's election laws. 

"Recount after recount and court case after court case upheld the integrity and outcome of a clearly free, fair, and secure democratic process," he said to CNN as well.

For voters who are concerned about what passing the SB202 could mean for early voting, Georgia's Secretary of State confirmed there will be 21 days of early voting in Georgia during the 2022 election.

As the controversy between Georgia state officials and the president continues, bystanders have raised the question of why other states who have a history of stricter voting laws than Georgia have not been criticized before.

“Democrats who have won election after election in states such as New York, Delaware, Connecticut, and Rhode Island have had little incentive to change the rules that helped them win,"  Russell Berman wrote in an Op-Ed in The Atlantic.

Rhode Island is among the many states in northeastern America that limit the time in which opponents can rally a base through policies that prevent most early voting.

Berman also states that Rhode Island enacted a substantially restrictive voter ID law 10 years ago with support from “powerful black elected leaders," a minority group the president believes is being discriminated against by enacting strict polling policies.

This makes Rhode Island one of the 36 states requiring voters to show a form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The state also requires two witnesses when submitting an absentee ballot.

Despite President Biden's retort for Georgia's new voting bill, voters nationwide also support a regular ID requirement at the polls.

A March 2021 study by Rasmussen found that 75% of likely U.S. Voters believe voters should be required to show photo ID before being allowed to vote, and 21% are opposed to the requirement.

Georgia's voting law is facing a suit from multiple organizations, including Black Voters Matter, The New Georgia Project and Rise Inc, the AP reported in March. The organizations alleged that Georgia's voting law violates the First Amendment and the 14th Amendment. 

“These unjustified measures will individually and cumulatively operate to impose unconstitutional burdens on the right to vote, to deny or abridge the voting rights of black Georgians, and to deny black voters in Georgia an equal opportunity to participate in the electoral process and elect candidates of their choice,” the lawsuit reads, according to the AP.