Peach Tree Times

The state’s new election laws have altered the requirements for voting, with the most recent election the first under the new rules.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that with the election over, there's evidence that the new laws improved efficiency.

“Back in November 2020, the average wait time in the afternoon was about three minutes, and for a brief period it actually went down to two minutes,” he told the Peach Tree Times. “The counties did a terrific job last year in the middle of pandemic. Now, with the passage of SB 202, it’s required by law to keep those lines shorter than an hour. And the counties are really doing a great job of making sure they keep those lines moving."

The new provisions limit the mailing window for absentee ballots, require new identification if voting by mail and restrict absentee drop boxes among other regulations, according to The Current. According to the report, election officials have had an easy time transitioning to the new rules with slow voter turnout helping. Early voting results showed roughly 500 ballots had been received from the more than 23,000 requested, and only 25,688 people had voted through Oct. 14.

“When people get their results quickly, and we didn’t have questions surrounding what happened on Election Day, I think that really helps build up the confidence in elections," Raffensperger said."Moving away from signature match on absentee ballots and toward the driver’s license number as identification, it’s a photo ID and it’s objective criteria – that should help build voter confidence.”

Critics had said that showing a valid ID when requesting an absentee ballot would lead to voter suppression; however the report stated that "election officials so far have avoided the significant problems predicted by Democrats" because of the slow voter turnout.

“This year, it was relatively quiet,” Raffensperger said. “That’s what we like. We aim to make elections boring again.”

The state’s new laws had garnered the attention of the U.S. Justice Department as it filed a lawsuit in opposition to Senate Bill 202 citing racist provisions.

“The Department of Justice’s politicized and baseless lawsuit should never have been filed and should be dismissed immediately,” Raffensperger said. “The Justice Department has weaponized lies and disinformation about Georgia’s election law in an effort to compensate for a failed federal elections takeover pushed by Stacey Abrams and her allies. It should be a concern for all Americans that the federal government is using the court system to attack common-sense election integrity reforms like photo ID for absentee ballots.”