Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has signed into law a string of new bills aimed at bolstering election security in the battleground state just months ahead of the presidential election.
A spokesperson for the Republican governor confirmed to The Epoch Times that Mr. Kemp signed the measures—Senate Bill 189, House Bill 974, and House Bill 1207—into law on Monday.
“As the governor has done in the past, he will always support measures that keep our elections secure, assessable, and fair,” spokesperson Garrison Douglas said.
The three bills include provisions that have been highly sought by conservatives in the state during this year’s legislative sessions, including tightened ballot security and increased audits.
Mr. Kemp has yet to issue a statement or comment on the bills, which were first passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature in late March.
Specifically, SB 189 expands the factors that can be used as probable causes to remove individuals from voting rolls, including death, voting or registering to vote in a different jurisdiction, obtaining a homestead exemption in a different jurisdiction, and registering at a nonresidential address as confirmed or listed by or in a government office.
The measure also states that the National Change of Address list can be considered in such a determination, albeit not exclusively.
Senate Bill 189 also requires all advance and absentee ballots to be counted within an hour of the polls closing and removes the practice of using QR codes on ballots to count votes electronically.
Republicans Welcome ‘Additional Election Integrity Measures’
Elsewhere, House Bill 974 is aimed at addressing transparency, adding visible watermarks to ballots, and requiring the Secretary of State to establish and maintain a state-wide system for the posting of scanned paper ballots, among other things. It also requires more audits of statewide elections.
Meanwhile, House Bill 1207 states that election workers must be citizens of the United States and reduces the number of election machines available per voter at every polling location on election days, with one machine per every 250 voters.
The bill also allows candidates to proof ballots for errors and grants poll watchers close access to polling places, advance voting locations, tabulation centers, and locations where absentee ballots are being verified, processed, adjudicated, and scanned.
Poll watchers may also be permitted behind the enclosed space to observe the conduct of the election, such as counting and recording of votes, as the measure states.
ACLU Vows Legal Action
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Georgia, which had vowed to sue Mr. Kemp if he signed the measure into law, said it would now be moving ahead with legal action.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ACLU said (SB 189) imposes “more barriers” for voters in Georgia as well as for elections administrators while simultaneously increasing the likelihood of “biased and baseless voter challenges around the state.”
The measure also “creates confusion for unhoused voters, makes it more difficult for county elections boards to interpret the law, and increases requirements for already overworked elections officials,” the group said.
Meanwhile, Andrea Young, ACLU of Georgia’s executive director, branded the measure “a step back for voters’ rights and voting access in the state” and claimed that the bill will “require already overburdened election workers to spend time processing unnecessary voter challenges.”
“As always, elected state officials should work to make voting easier and not more difficult for Georgia citizens,” Ms. Young said. “We are committed to protecting Georgia voters and will see the governor in court.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Mr. Kemp’s office for further comment.
Mr. Kemp signed SB 202 into law in 2021. The Election Integrity Act of 2021 included reforms requiring photo or state-approved identification to vote absentee by mail. It has been the subject of multiple lawsuits from voting rights groups who claim the bill amounts to voter suppression.
Republicans, however, insist that the bill, as well as those signed into law by the governor on Monday, will help ensure election integrity and transparency in the battleground state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times