'Total nonsense': GOP lawmakers in major swing state push for even more voting restrictions

Georgia's state legislature is about to gavel into session next week, and there are already several proposed new voting restrictions on the docket for lawmakers to consider.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday that Republican lawmakers emboldened by Trump's 2024 election victory in the Peach State are now hoping to have several GOP wish-list items signed into law that would make the voting process even more cumbersome in the critical swing state. Some of the bills include language mandating hand-counting of ballots and eliminating no-excuse absentee voting.

Some conservative activists are also reportedly advocating for legislation that makes it easier to challenge voters' eligibility, and for new rules to be put in place regarding county-level certification of election results. The renewed push for election changes comes after a fraught election cycle in which Georgia's Republican-controlled State Election Board attempted to ram through several last-minute changes that would have significantly delayed the counting of ballots.

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“It was total nonsense what they were doing. It was a show unlike anything we’ve ever seen as election officials." Heard County election supervisor Tonnie Adams told the Journal-Constitution. "We’d like to see the entire rulemaking process changed.”

Democratic state representative Saira Draper is also pushing for an election-related law. Her legislation would make it illegal for the State Election Board to make changes to election laws during election years, arguing that election workers need time to be trained on how to follow and implement existing laws. She also wants to allow for parents with small children to be moved to the front of voting lines.

“The problem we’ve seen over and over again in election policy is responding to fears or made-up stories as opposed to actual facts,” Draper told the paper. “By playing to concerns of voter confidence, you’re basically changing policy for problems that don’t exist. I would like to see policies that are tethered to real issues as opposed to made-up issues for political purposes.”

Georgia Republicans have been pushing for sweeping changes to election laws ever since 2021, when President Joe Biden flipped the state blue after nearly 30 years. In 2022, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) was elected to a full six-year term, making it the first time since the 1990s that Georgia has been represented by two Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

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Click here to read the Journal-Constitution's report in its entirety (subscription required).