ATLANTA — A new Republican-led bill could change the way you vote next November.
It would do away with county-wide early voting and require hand-marked paper ballots.
Channel 2’s Richard Elliot says Democrats are already calling this another attempt at voter suppression.
This is the bill dropped Thursday afternoon by Cumming Republican Sen. Greg Dolezal.
It changes a lot of how and where you vote, and what the state’s top elections officer, the secretary of state, can do.
“It moves Georgians to voting the same way that Floridians vote, and that’s on a hand-marked paper ballot that would be a matching tabulation,” Dolezal said.
The bill gets rid of existing dominion voting machines and moves the state to hand-marked paper ballots. It does away with county-wide early voting, instead creating early voting districts in larger counties.
The proposal triggers an automatic recount at a 2% difference in the vote instead of .5%.
And it removes the secretary of state’s office from all recounts, instead putting the Republican-controlled state elections board in charge.
“Everything that you describe tells me it’s another voter suppression bill,” said State Sen. Harold Jones, D-Augusta.
The bill was so new, Democrats barely had a chance to look it over, but they didn’t like what they saw.
“We know we’re going to be opposed to it. And with the things that you actually told me, tell me once again the Republican party is trying to suppress votes,” Jones said.
Dolezal dismissed the criticism and said this isn’t about voter suppression but voting integrity.
”I have no idea how voting on a piece of paper, marking it down with your pencil, in anyway suppresses the vote,” he said.
If passed, this would not go into effect for the May primaries, that’s too soon under federal law.
But it would go in effect in time for the November general election.
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