re: Fellow Georgia baws, will you be voting for Kemp or Perdue?

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Blocked election integrity bill

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Legislators in Georgia on Tuesday night stripped down an elections bill that would have given the state's bureau of investigations jurisdiction over voter fraud cases, among other measures, following pushback from state workers.

In a 10-0 vote, members of the state Senate Ethics Committee opted to substitute a significantly narrower, two-page election reform bill for the original 39-page measure. The bill that was advanced features only one element of the original proposal: expanding how long voters can take off from their jobs to vote during the state’s early-voting period.

The committee’s vote Tuesday night followed a day of testimony from a bipartisan group of election workers across the state who had expressed opposition to the bill’s proposed ballot handling rules and restrictions on outside donations. An elections supervisor said at Monday’s hearing that such proposals amounted merely to “security theater.” Many expressed concern about the possibility of implementing even more changes to elections while they continued to carry out the changes mandated by last year’s sweeping election law.

The move effectively kills the most controversial parts of the original bill, one of which would have given the Georgia Bureau of investigation jurisdiction over election crimes and voter fraud. The original bill’s sponsor, state Rep. James Burchett, a Republican, said at the hearing that he felt lawmakers could pass additional measures.

“This is one of the most politicized issues across the country,” Burchett said. “We’ll just continue working on these issues that were in the bill and try to find some middle ground.” The current legislative session ends Monday.

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