Skidaway Island Democrats

5 days ago

SB202 requires that absentee ballot applications be signed with pen and ink. Voters had been able to complete their application for an absentee ballot online. A federal law overrides the so-called “wet signature” requirement, according to the Department of Justice, because it denies the right to vote based on rules that aren’t material to voters’ qualifications. The DOJ’s opinion was filed in support of a suit brought by Vote.org, one of several lawsuits challenging the many provisions in the bill.

During the pandemic and before SB202 passed, a quarter of Georgia voters cast an absentee ballot. Online applications, the presence of dropboxes at safe locations, needing no-excuse to apply made absentee voting convenient and popular. Since the law passed leaving only the no-excuse provision intact, the percentage has dropped to about 5%. ... See MoreSee Less

Skidaway Island Democrats

5 days ago

SB189 will allow anyone to challenge voter eligibility, even—or often—on flimsy evidence. Since SB202 passed two years ago opening the door to these challenges, almost 100% of them have been dismissed as baseless. The new bill makes challenges even easier. The Columbia County Board of Elections, for one, wants protection from what will almost certainly become a litigious development. The Board has written a sample policy for accepting and rejecting voter challenges and is submitting it to lawyers for review.

Another yet-to-be-signed bill to eliminate watermarks will result in trashing 100,000 sheets of ballot paper in Columbia County.

The governor has until tomorrow to either sign or veto the bill, or, absent his signature, let it automatically become law. ... See MoreSee Less

Skidaway Island Democrats

5 days ago

Despite the Georgia legislature’s insistence that voters mistrust our elections—resulting in the passage of 40 election bills in the most recent session—the state jumped 10 places in MIT’s Elections Performance Index. Georgia went from 21st place in 2020 to 11th in the most recent ranking. Average turnout and percentage of registered voters both improved while the number of rejected ballots declined.

Areas that need improvement, according to the study, are problems with registration or absentee ballots which deter people from voting, the number of military and overseas ballots that are rejected and can’t be counted, and waiting time at the polls. Georgia ranks below the national average on all of those but the first two had already dramatically improved from two years ago. ... See MoreSee Less

Skidaway Island Democrats

5 days ago

A Georgia Court of Appeals is expected to rule by May 13 on whether to grant a motion by Trump and several of his co-defendants asking the court to review Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee’s decision to allow Fani Willis to remain on the case following Nathan Wade’s resignation. In the March 3 ruling, McAfee wrote that Willis actions showed a tremendous lapse in judgment but that the defense was unable to prove there was a conflict of interest that warranted dismissing the case. ... See MoreSee Less

Skidaway Island Democrats

2 weeks ago

Because corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court legalized political bribery, most recently with Citizens United, we have:

— Republicans who take money from the NRA and gun manufacturers blocking an assault weapons ban and pushing for more guns in our communities and schools.
— Republicans who take money from the fossil fuel industry denying climate change and sabotaging efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
— Republicans who take money from the Pharma industry fighting Biden’s efforts to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices while working to protect the industry’s obscene profits.
— Republicans who take money from the for-profit health insurance industry obstructing all efforts to create a national single-payer system that would save Americans as much as half of what we spend on healthcare.
— Republicans who take money from billionaires fighting to protect Reagan’s, Bush’s, and Trump’s multi-trillion-dollar tax cuts and now arguing for more gifts to the morbidly rich.
— Republicans who take money from the banking industry preventing even one single banker from going to prison when they crashed the US economy during the last year of George W. Bush’s administration, despite massive evidence of fraud.
— Republicans who take money from the private prison industry writing laws to increase criminal penalties for pretty much everything.
— Republicans who take money from the tobacco and alcohol industries fighting decriminalization of marijuana at the federal level.
— Republicans who take money from the investment industry fighting efforts to regulate investment advisors who routinely rip off retirees.
— Republicans who take money from defense contractors promoting illegal wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
— Republicans who take money from the private school industry passing universal voucher laws in the states, gutting public schools.
— Republicans who take money from the lending industry preventing students from declaring bankruptcy on student debt. ... See MoreSee Less