Georgia allowed people not eligible to vote, to vote last year. No matching of signatures on absentee ballots, use of the questionable Dominion voting system. No voter ID. Illegal changing of the rules and laws governing elections—that for a start is how you steal an election.
Now that the legislature and Governor are ending these and other corrupt practices they are said to be suppressing the vote and guilty of Jim Crow laws. As a reminder, Jim Crow laws, voter suppression and segregation was the product of the Democrat Party, along with founding the KKK.
“If the pundits and politicians who are declaring the new measure as “voter suppression” and “racist” have actually read the legislation [as I have] they would understand that it does just the opposite. The new law leaves the state with more opportunities to vote than the states of Delaware and New York.
How is lengthening Georgia’s early voting period by four days voter suppression? Georgian’s now will have a second Saturday plus a Sunday to vote. Voting hours are expanded to 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in counties with large precincts and election officials are to measure wait time in voter lines three times per hour and make reasonable adjustments to shorten the lines or move voters along more quickly.
How is the continuing ability to get an absentee ballot without excuse voter suppression? Many states have similar requirements.
Biden has been proud to call his home State of Delaware “a slave” State. As a Senator he voted against desegregating the schools. Now he wants Georgia to suppress the vote by promoting fraud and corruption—just how the Democrats controlled the South for almost 100 years.
What really happened in Georgia?
Joan Trombetta Clendenin, Exclusive to the California Political News and Views, 4/14/21
In a saner political environment, Democrats and Republicans would admit that Joe Biden won the presidency legitimately and that the Pandemic Election exposed significant flaws in our voting system that ought to be addressed in a bipartisan fashion as soon as possible. I believe that is exactly what is happening in 47 states as I write. Georgia was the first state to pass legislation that corrected some of the shortcomings.
How is adding a requirement that absentee ballot requests be verified with a government ID number [that is provided free to anyone who asks] voter suppression? Same day voters have historically been required to provide the same information to vote at the precinct and states like Colorado have even tougher requirements. In Georgia people can certify themselves to vote with less identification than is necessary for purchasing alcohol or Sudafed. Try getting on an airplane without a government ID.
How is saying that third parties [ie: political parties or interest groups] cannot disburse water or other “gifts” to voters waiting in line at the precinct a bad idea when election officials are still permitted to supply water and more to those folks? California has strictly enforced rules about politicking within a specified distance from the voting area.
The legislation would require Georgia voters to vote in their assigned precinct and would prohibit outside groups from sending duplicate applications for mail-in absentee ballots to voters who have already applied for one. Both changes make sense especially to avoiding duplicate voting.
Prior to the Presidential Election of 2020, Georgia did not provide drop boxes. Drop boxes were allowed then as a temporary measure during the Pandemic. Thanks to the recent legislation, drop boxes will now be available for every 100,000 active voters in county offices or at early voting sites. The measure states the boxes would need “constant surveillance” by elections staff or security. How is this voter suppression?
The charge that the Georgia legislation and the Legislative activates in 46 other states to address the shortcomings of the 2020 Pandemic Election disadvantage minorities or suppress voter turnout in any way is just plain wrong. Even the Washington Post has criticized President Biden and others for characterizing the law as “punative” or an “atrocity“ or Jim Crow 2.0. They continue to use such terms. Some business that made early judgmental statements and incorrect remarks about the law are now reversing them.
If more of those elected officials and pundits would take time to read the actual language in the bill, some of this foolishness would subside and there could be a reasonable debate in the states about how their elections should be conducted.
I am all for reasonable debate on issues and process but I fear the recent comments by some legislators and pundits is prelude to the debate over HR 1. The For The People Act or 2021 is an 800 page Congressional proposal that would take the ability to regulate elections from the individual states and create Federal mandates. In my view, that would violate the state prerogatives embedded in the U.S. Constitution.
Joan Trombetta Clendenin
Former member of the CRP Initiatives and Credentials committees, Modesto Bee Visiting Editor, Legislative Analyst for the California Federation of Republican Women, Legislative Chair for the California Retired County Employees Association, and the Retired Employees of Stanislaus County; Co- Chair of the Bylaw revision committee for the National Federation of Republican Women.
