On March 25, 2021, Georgia’s Republican governor, Brent Kemp, signed a bill that requires proof of identity for absentee voting, limits the practice of ballot boxes, and prohibits providing voters with food or water as they wait in line. These limitations affect lower-income, racially diverse, and young voters who tend to vote for the Democratic Party. The bill has received significant backlash for its similarity to Jim Crow laws and for upholding the long-standing voter suppression in Georgia.
Georgia has a lengthy history of voter suppression dating back to the post-civil war period, including the intimidation of black voters by KKK members and Jim Crow laws, which severely restricted voting for black people. The laws allowed for literacy tests, poll taxes, and residency requirements. More recently, Georgia has implemented voter suppression tactics, which are not a part of the new bill, such as closing polling stations in disproportionately black areas, forcing voters to wait for hours in line, and requiring “exact” signature matches. These methods have decreased voter turnout in Georgia for years, especially for people of color. Considering former President Trump’s attempts to overrule Georgia’s election results, these new regulations allow votes for democrats to be overturned in future elections.

The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), and other civil rights groups have sued Georgia to overturn the bill. The NAACP suit was filed on March 28, 2021, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. It claims that Georgia Republicans violated the Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 when passing this legislation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned the use of literacy tests and allowed the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes. Lawyers from the NAACP claim the law “is the culmination of a concerted effort to suppress the participation of Black voters and other voters of color by the Republican State Senate, State House, and Governor.” The suit also alleges that Georgia’s Secretary of State obtained records containing the racial demographics of voting and further used the paperwork while drafting this legislation. Additionally, the suit argues that Georgia legislators understood that this new bill would decrease the turnout of people of color.
42 other states are considering similar legislation, and Georgia Republicans argue that voting restrictions serve to dispute any claims of voter fraud after the 2020 election, even after election officials have expressed that there was no widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election. “There’s nothing wrong with securing a great system,” Florida State Senator Dennis Baxly said when new voter laws were proposed.