(GA Recorder) — Republican state lawmakers are poised to move forward with an election overhaul that gives the GBI more power to investigate elections and increases the public’s ability to review paper ballots.
Waycross GOP Rep. James Burchett’s House Bill 1464 passed the House Special Committee on Election Integrity on a party-line vote Thursday, just days before the Tuesday deadline for bills to clear at least one chamber.
The bill builds on Georgia’s Republicans’ so-called Election Integrity Act passed in 2021 as the state became the ground zero for controversial GOP election changes following the 2020 election.
Critics charge the House bill is another attempt to play to unfounded accusations of rampant voting fraud conspiracy theorists say cost former President Donald Trump a second term.
Opponents say the 40-page legislation will burden election administrators, staff, and poll workers and cost millions of dollars in private donations that could lead to longer lines at the voting booths.
Like last year’s SB 202, Hartwell Republican Rep. Alan Powell said this year’s omnibus seeks to improve the security of elections, streamline the law, and restore confidence in the election process.
This bill would authorize the GBI to lead investigations into election cases. It would also make original paper ballots available for public inspection, and require chain-of-custody paperwork for ballots.
“Because of the election issues, what we’re trying to do is get to the point that everything is uniform, no matter what county it is, so that we can dispel the anxiety and the concern that there’s been something been done wrong,” he said.
Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, has expressed support for giving the nonpartisan GBI more power to investigate election law violations.
Burchett said the state’s top law enforcement agency is best equipped to handle election investigations that involve bank and wire fraud.
Advocates for voter ballot access argue that granting a crime-fighting agency more authority over elections could lead to more intimidation of poll workers, activists, and voters.
“We understand that this State Election Board had a terrible backlog of cases but we think that the current board and the current Secretary of State has done a tremendous job in trying to catch that up,” said Cindy Battles, director of policy engagement at the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples’ Agenda. “I think that making every single investigation a criminal investigation is going to deter not only voters but also poll workers.”
Hart County voter Dana Smith said at Thursday’s hearing that the state’s election system will operate better with stronger measures for tracking ballots and by limiting outside groups from donating to elections offices.
“As a voter, I just always assumed that taxpayer dollars paid to run an election,” Smith said “Most people think that, so I actually appreciate the language in this bill restricting where all this outside money comes from. Because I want it I to be just as squeaky clean as it can possibly be for both sides.”
Voting rights advocacy group Fair Fight Action said that if the law had been in force in 2020, county elections offices would have missed out on at least $43 million from outside agencies to fight COVID-19, improve wages for poll workers, and assist “cash-strapped, overworked elections offices.”
Douglas County Elections Director Milton Kidd said losing out on grants would have repercussions beyond elections cycles when races for president and governor attract the largest numbers of voters and require the most resources.
“We pay attention to these processes in large election years but we don’t think about municipal elections, your special elections,” he said. “For Douglas County, we use that grant funding to purchase trucks, we purchase (places) where we can house equipment and different things.”
Changes under last year’s election law overhaul added a new ID requirement to vote by mail, shortened the window to request absentee ballots, added a required day to early voting, and limited access to absentee drop boxes.
