One hot topic in the news this week has been the recent efforts of Republicans to change voter laws. The Democrats have responded by saying that the Republicans are engaging in a campaign to suppress votes, especially the votes of minorities. One recent example is in Georgia, where Thursday night, the legislators approved election reform laws that would include voter ID requirements, limiting ballot drop boxes, and also limiting people from offering food and water to voters.

The new law imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water.

"It's like the Christmas tree of goodies for voter suppression," Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan said on the Senate floor as lawmakers prepared to vote on the nearly 100-page bill Thursday.

Republicans cast the measure, dubbed The Election Integrity Act of 2021, as necessary to boost confidence in elections after the 2020 election saw Trump make repeated, unsubstantiated claims of fraud.
Source: CNN

For Debate:
1. Are Republicans, or more specifically Georgia's new election law reform, aimed at suppressing votes?
 
For Debate:
1. Are Republicans, or more specifically Georgia's new election law reform, aimed at suppressing votes?
For now, I will say that I suspect that some Republicans are trying to suppress voter turnout. Why wouldn't some of them do that when it's to their advantage? I reserve some judgement because I'm not entirely clear about some of the intentions, and intentions are oftentimes hard to prove. However, I don't agree with every single charge that the Democrats are making either. Democrats are trying to paint the entire Republican effort as being about voter suppression, when in reality only some of the efforts can be questioned as such. Some Democrats may respond saying that no extra voting laws are needed given that there's no evidence of fraud, but in my view security should be proactive and not just reactive. In other words, we need security not just when something happens, but we also need it to prevent fraud/errors from happening, as well.

One thing that stood out to me the most was the part of the law that prohibits food and water from being handed out. I checked into this and found that it is indeed part of Georgia's new law. Here's the reasoning behind that law:
The law, SB 202, states that "[n]o person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector ... on any day in which ballots are being cast."

GOP lawmakers who have supported the measure say the provision on food and water was included in an effort to prevent the solicitation of votes and electioneering, or influencing voters.

The law states that poll workers under the law could still bring water from a fountain, or bottles of water, to people in line.
Source: The Hill
 
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