(Politicizd) ---- Over a few weeks has passed since Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a bill issuing new voting provisions, but the backlash continues to grow, with corporate America suggesting the bill was racist and emulated historic Jim-Crow voter suppression.
In fact, originally the measure was slammed by President Biden, where he and many civil rights groups birthed the idea that the bill “suppresses the voting of black and other racial minorities”. Following this declaration, similar outrage from CEOs emerged, including that of Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines.
Coca-Cola CEO, James Quincey says the company, based in Georgia, has "always opposed this legislation", and will continue to speak publicly against it. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said the bill is "unacceptable and does not match Delta's values." He said the legislation was "based on a lie." The lie he's referring to, is that the 2020 election was filled with rampant voter fraud. However, Republicans argue the bill is in response to widespread doubt on election integrity prevalent throughout the country.
"Based on a lie."
Delta CEO James Quincey, on the idea that electoral reforms are needed in further elections.
Later, Major League Baseball announced it would be moving this year’s All Star Game, which was set to be played in Atlanta, Georgia. The decision which directly hurt Atlanta’s local economy, was advanced by Stacey Abrams who said she was disappointed but happy the issue was brought to the public’s view.
Abrams, who once touted fraud, as the primary cause of her 2018 Gubernatorial loss to Current Gov. Brain Kemp, now demands that reforms are not needed, and any such reform is voter suppression.
However, this is untrue, and the actual bill creates voter confidence among both sides of aisle. In fact, while the bill ensures electoral integrity, it still holds less restrictive voting requirements than several other blue [Democratic leaning ] states.
Key Points of the Bill, Explained
First, instead of allowing ballot requests 6 months before Election Day, the new rule enforces a 78 day period of early voting before Election Day.
Second, the bill inks a long-awaited request of Republicans to only send mail-in ballots to those who request them. The idea is to ensure that ballots are only sent to those who plan to use them to vote. Further stated, those who receive unwanted ballots could illegally share them with another individual who’s already voted.
Additionally, mail-in voters will now need to provide one of serval forms of identification. And lastly, a ban on handing out water and food to voters within 150 feet of a polling site has now been instated. Republicans argue this will make it less likely to influenced before voting, while democrats argue it will discourage voting on extremely hot or cold days.
Voter- ID supporters argue that voter security is no less important than airline and banking security where an ID is always required.
So this begs the question.
Where does any of this prohibit voting access to minorities?
It doesn’t.
However, Democrats argue that Black Americans would have a more challenging time, getting a proper ID than their white counterparts. Yet, no evidence of this is present and most politicians have refrained from publicly stating this, as it implies that Black Americans cannot afford an ID that is cheaply provided by the state.
Overall, these laws are notably less restrictive than other states including several other Democratic majority states. Such as, Delaware, Washington and Connecticut. Those states required either a non-photo ID, or even social security number. Yet, the outrage in those states is non-existent.
Many conservative commentators have now begun to question if Corporate America accurately understands the provisions of the bill.
