“It’s terrible,” said US President Joe Biden on the electoral reform that Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp put into effect this week. “We have a moral and constitutional obligation to act.” The law runs “contrary to American values in order to deprive voters of their right to vote,” said the Democratic president.
The new electoral law in the southern state makes it more difficult to vote by postal vote and in some cases shortens the opening times of the polling stations. It also gives the local parliament more powers to intervene in the process of an election. Critics argue that the Republicans wanted to lower the turnout of blacks and other minorities because they were more likely to vote for the Democrats. The Republicans, on the other hand, stress that it is about making elections safer.
No water for the snake
It will also be prohibited for third parties in Georgia to speak to voters standing in line – even offering water or food is now strictly prohibited. Biden said the Republicans created the long lines themselves by reducing the number of polling stations – “disproportionately in black quarters”. And referring to the racist Jim Crow laws that repressed blacks in the US until the 1960s, he said, “This is Jim Crow in the 21st century.”
Joe Biden: “Let the people vote!”
–
The influential civil rights organization ACLU also said the electoral reform “undermines our democracy and the political power of black voters”. Several organizations filed complaints against the law.
Biden’s predecessor and adversary Donald Trump, however, said Georgia learned the lessons of the “farce” in the 2020 presidential election. “Too bad these changes weren’t made sooner!” Added Trump. Biden won the state by a narrow margin in November. It was the first time in nearly three decades that a Democrat secured the votes for entry into the White House. Because of the corona pandemic, the number of postal votes was particularly high.
wa / AR (dpa, afp)
– .
