According to President Biden, the new Georgia law signed by Brian Kemp is “Jim Crow on steroids.” (Sullivan & Vazquez, 2021). He even said it made “Jim Crow look like Jim Eagle.” (Solender, 2021) Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. Jamelle Bouie, from The New York Times, wrote an opinion piece titled, If It’s Not Jim Crow, What Is It? (Bouie, 2021). What makes the Georgia election law so bad? I’ve seen people talking about it on social media, but I’ve read the portions of the law that they are upset about and have found nothing wrong with it. Maybe I just need some more background and then I’ll come around on thinking the law is a new version of Jim Crow.
Jim Crow laws were established in the 1890s and continued until the Civil Right Act of 1964 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Jim Crow laws were targeted directly at Blacks in the South. The laws did things such as mandating segregation of schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants. “Whites Only” and “Colored” signs were constant reminders of the enforced racial order. Blacks were also systematically denied the right to vote in most of the South. Now, I do not know how this new Georgia election law compares to what happened during the Jim Crow era. I must have missed the part where it lays out different standards for Blacks and Whites. I must have definitely missed the part where is keeps Blacks for voting. Or maybe I missed the part where it says a Black vote courts less than a White vote. Wait, the law doesn’t have any of those provisions? I must be missing something here. Why did Georgia decide to write this law to begin with?
Everyone remembers how the 2020 election played out. Everyone remembers what happened in Georgia and the unfounded claims concerning voter fraud. Apparently, to those in the media and on social media, this law is a reaction to those unfounded claims of fraud in the 2020 election. That is what the timing may tell you, but it is not true at all. Sometimes it takes more critical thinking and investigative work to understand certain reasonings. In this situation all it took was a quick Google search. The Electoral Integrity Project (EIP) conducts studies surrounding election integrity in each state. (Garnett et al., 2016). In 2016, under EPIs study Georgia ranked 43rd in the United States in election integrity. (Garnett et al., 2016). EPI looks at things like electoral laws, electoral procedures, district boundaries, voter registration, party registration, media coverage, voting process, vote count, results, and electoral authorities. (Garnett et al., 2016). Contrary to popular belief, states want to be better than other states. It is not always a race to the bottom. There is a lot of competition between states. When it comes to one of the most important functions of government, states want to get it right. Also, it takes more than a year in most states to get an omnibus elections law through the legislative process. Over the past few years, I would wager there have been committees and boards that have discussed the issues and put together a proposal on how to better run Georgia’s election system. This law can also be in part a reaction to 2020. You can dismiss the fraud and still acknowledge that the election system in Georgia was flawed in 2020 as well as 2018. It wasn’t as much of a swing state in 2016, but obviously their system was flawed then as well. I will note that I did not find any mention that this law was designed to keep Blacks from voting. Maybe I just need to examine the bill again.
The New York Times released an article after this bill was passed in which they examined 16 different parts of the law; in reality it is just 16 complaints about the law. (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). This article has probably been one of the most shared articles on social media in the past week. I will first say, the headlines in the article give half-truths, because that is usually the only part people read. So, you have people on social media sharing one of the headlines and hundreds of people will think that is the whole story. In the subsections there is actual information that I can discuss. I won’t address all of the complaints because some of them are straight garbage. For example, the time to request an absentee ballot is decreased from six months to two months. (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). I don’t know who requests an absentee ballot six months in advance, but it is not necessary. I will address the issues that have been most prevalent in the media and on social media.
The major issue concerning the law is the “strict new ID requirements for absentee ballots.” (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). With no proof, the article states that “stringent voter-ID laws in other states have depressed voting mostly among people of color.” (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). There could be data to back this claim up, and if there is, I invite you to send me an article or a study. Though, the argument is always people of color cannot get IDs. If that is the argument you want to make, then go right ahead. If you think Republicans are creating voter ID laws to keep people of color from voting, then that is your prerogative. Of course, you will have to back that up with data showing people of color cannot get IDs and then we can find a way to fix those issues. Personally, I think this is asking the bare minimum. The right to vote is a privilege for being a citizen of the United States. To exercise that privilege there is nothing wrong with showing an ID. I’ll even bring the issue of the 2nd Amendment into the fold here. If people of color cannot get IDs and you require and ID to purchase a firearm, are people of color being denied their 2nd Amendment right to keep and bear arms? I don’t think that is a conversation that most people in the Democrat party are willing to have. Moving on though, I have a few assumptions of my own that I want to put out there. Senior citizens do not always have IDs and are sometimes easily confused. Also, Hispanics are people of color, and Hispanics are more and more fiscal and socially conservative. In just those two groups you have a giant voting block for Republicans that can be affected by this law. Based on the same assumptions it would appear if Republicans wanted more of their base to vote they would want to eliminate voter ID requirements. Maybe, Republicans are creating this law because they want secure elections. They want to confirm that those requesting and sending back ballots are who they say they are. I don’t understand how people can’t get IDs. Like in other states, Georgia will provide a free ID card to vote. If they don’t have an ID, they can put down their social security number. Call me naïve, but I must be missing something in all of this.
Another major complaint is “the G.O.P.-led legislature is empowered to suspend county election officials.” (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). This is what many people on social media refer to when they say the new law allows the state to toss out county election results. This is just not true. It puts the power to suspend and appoint new election superintendents in the hands of the election board. (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). The election board is composed of five members in Georgia: (1) the chair who is a non-partisan member elected by the General Assembly, (2) a member chosen by the House, (3) a member chosen by the Senate, (4) a member chosen by the Georgia Republicans, and (5) and member chosen by the Georgia Democrats. (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). Decisions of the State Election Board usually must be unanimous. This means there is a high bar to remove the superintendents. To even consider removing an election superintendent there needs to be three clear violations of State Election Board rules or negligence in the administration of elections for two election cycles. (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). The State Election Board must have a unanimous decision removing the superintendent and also replacing the superintendent. Nowhere in this law does it give anyone the power to loss out election results. The law allows the state to step in when counties are running poor election system.
Apparently “drop boxes still exist … but barely.” (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). The new Georgia law allows drop boxes for each 100,000 voters in a county. (Corasaniti & Epstein, 2021). It would be good to note here that drop boxes were not a thing before this last election. Drop boxes are just mailboxes for ballots. (Rakich, 2020). If there are a few days left until the election and you don’t want to take a chance with your ballot getting in on time, then you can use a ballot drop box. (Rakich, 2020). This ensures that your ballot is in on time. This is really a non-issue. This can be a quick change under future legislation if the state feel drop boxes need to be expanded. There is also a logistical sense to all of this. These boxes have to be protected and ballots have to be collected every day. Not every county has to resources to do this. I think that the legislation should create a floor and not a ceiling. If a county has the resources to add more, they should be allowed to. I don’t think this will be an issue in the 2022 elections in Georgia. If it becomes a paramount issue, then I’ll eat my words here.
Finally, I have to talk about the food and water in line. I think this is an insane issue to be up in arms about. The one argument I see in the media and on social media surrounding this issue is that no one is decided who to vote for based on who brings them food and water in line. I hate to tell people this, but most people do not know who they are voting for in most elections when they get to the polls. If you have a county counsel candidate giving food/water out to voters, those voters are more likely to vote for that person. President, Governor, Senator, and Representative are not the only offices that you are voting for. Most of the elections are low information and little things can make a difference.
There were more complaints, but I will not go into the rest of them. If you have any other issues surround the law you wish I would have discussed, feel free to comment. I would love to have more discussions on this topic. But this bill isn’t anything like Jim Crow. It doesn’t target Black people and make it harder for them to vote. It doesn’t set different standards that Black people need to meet to vote. It sets a standard across the state. If bare minimum election standards are Jim Crow, then everything is Jim Crow.
Sources
Bouie, Jamelle. (2020, Apr 6). If It’s Not Jim Crow, What Is It? Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/06/opinion/georgia-voting-law.html
Corasaniti, Nick; Epstein, Reid. (2021, Apr 2). What Georgia’s Voting Law Really Does. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/02/us/politics/georgia-voting-law-annotated.html
Garnett, Holly; et al. (2016, Dec 27). Electoral integrity in all 50 US states, ranked by experts. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/thebigidea/2016/12/24/14074762/ electoral-integrity-states-gerrymandering-voter-id
Rakish, Nathaniel. (2020, Oct 5). More States Are Using Ballot Drop Boxes. Why Are They So Controversial? Retrieved from https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/more-states-are-using-ballot-drop-boxes-why-are-they-so-controversial/
Solender, Andrew. (2021, Mar 25). ‘Makes Jim Crow Look Like Jim Eagle’: Biden Slams ‘Despicable’ GOP Voting Restrictions. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/ andrewsolender/2021/03/25/makes-jim-crow-look-like-jim-eagle-biden-slams-despicable-gop-voting-restrictions/?sh=765382242fa9
Sullivan, Kate; Vazquez, Maegan. (2021, Mar 26). Biden calls Georgia law ‘Jim Crow in the 21st Century’ and says Justice Department is ‘taking a look’. Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/26/ politics/joe-biden-georgia-voting-rights-bill/index.html
Politics with Kegan Prentice 