Votings right advocacy leader Stacey Abrams’ organization, Fair Fight Action is launching a multi-million dollar ad campaign to call attention to Republican-sponsored election restriction bills.
The organization released a 30-second ad on Tuesday (February 23) detailing the recent legislation filed by Georgia Republicans that would impose limits on by-mail voting in the state.
“Georgians of both parties have voted by mail for decades,” the ad states. “Almost half a million Georgia Republicans did it just last year. The GOP knows voting by mail works, it was their idea.”
Record voter turnout was seen across the nation in November’s General Election. Several Republicans have scrutinized the turnout, especially from Black voters and other voters of color, which help lead to President Joe Biden's victory.
Georgia specifically became a battleground during election season, making a historical flip and giving its 16 electoral votes to Biden. Former president Donald Trump placed a call to the state’s secretary Brad Raffensperger in which Trump asked him to “find” enough votes to reverse the outcome.
Georgia voters showed out again at the polls during two early January senatorial run-off elections that effectively gave control of the Senate to Democrats.
As a result Republicans in the state have filed several bills to limit or place barriers in absentee voting, early voting, and general voting access, measures that would have a disproportionate impact on Black voters, voters who are classified as low income, and voters with disabilities.
Leaders in the party are using the potential for voter fraud as justification for the measures, though they have not provided evidence that fraud occurred in the state.
Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo said Georgia GOP lawmakers have an “anti-voting agenda,” and that the legislation they’ve filed “threatens the ability of all Georgians to easily and safely cast their ballot –– including the hundreds of thousands of Republican mail voters.”
Other voting rights organizations have sounded off about the legislation and ongoing steps Republicans are taking that would reduce Georgians’ access to exercise their right to vote.
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