Statement: Georgia State Lawmakers Limit Early and Absentee Voting After Historic Election

Washington, DC, February 19, 2021 — Some state lawmakers in the Georgia House recently released an omnibus elections bill that proposes tough restrictions to limit absentee and in-person early voting, among other sweeping changes, after Georgia set records for voter turnout and election participation in the 2020 election cycle. Tom Lopach, President and CEO of the VPC and CVI, released the following statement. Since 2003, the Voter Participation Center (VPC) and Center for Voter Information (CVI) have provided 5.7 million Americans with the tools and information they need to register and get to the polls. 

“After record turnout and election participation in Georgia, some state legislators are doing all they can to make it more difficult to vote. This proposal rolls back mail-in voting and early voting, which helped Georgia usher in thousands of new voters and will also give counties less time to send absentee ballots and eliminate early Sunday voting, which is a high turnout day for Black voters. These deliberate efforts to cut off access to the ballot box are antithetical to democracy, and the targeting is clear. 

“We must strongly condemn these anti-voting bills which disproportionately impact historically disenfranchised voters. State lawmakers across the country have introduced more than 100 bills to restrict voting rights when more should be done to expand voting access. It is shameful. Every eligible voter must have full and unburdensome access to voting to make their voices heard. Election should be a contest of ideas—not a contest of who is prevented from voting.  America is a democracy.”

The Voter Participation Center and Center for Voter Information are non-profit, non-partisan organizations founded in 2003 to help members of the New American Majority – unmarried women, people of color and young people – register and vote. Since then, the organizations have helped 5.7 million people register and cast ballots.