Stacey Abrams: Turnout in Georgia does not mean there is no ‘voter suppression activity’
Former Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams claimed Friday on CNN that early lines in the Peach State have formed because of restrictions on mail ballots.
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams is claiming that "voter suppression" is occurring in Georgia despite record turnout in the Peach State.
During Friday’s installment of "CNN News Central," co-anchor Kate Bolduan asked Abrams what she believes is driving the surge in early voting.
"While we are excited about who is showing up, we have to understand that turnout does not mean there is not voter suppression activity," Abrams replied.
She suggested that one of the reasons for long early voting lines is because residents can no longer use the "easier" method of voting by mail.
RURAL GEORGIA COUNTIES OUTPACE DEM STRONGHOLDS AS PEACH STATE SHATTERS EARLY VOTING RECORDS
Then-Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams speaks to supporters and members of the Rabun County Democrats group on July 28, 2022 in Clayton, Georgia. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)
"People who are disabled, people who have lost their homes are facing harder times casting their ballots, but they refuse to be silenced. What we are excited about is that here in the state of Georgia, despite the government making it harder to cast your ballot, people are willing to fight to make it happen anyway," Abrams continued.
Senate Bill 202, which was adopted by the Georgia General assembly in 2021, made several changes to absentee ballots. Prior to its passage, signature verification was the primary means of checking voter identity, according to the Fulton County website.
Absentee ballots could also be requested up until the Friday before the election.
The new method stipulates that Georgia voters provide their Driver’s License number or other forms of voter ID and must request their ballot at least 11 days before the election.
Rural counties won by former President Trump in 2020 have so far outpaced blue strongholds in percentage of population voting early in the state of Georgia. (Getty Images)
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Georgia voters have already shattered multiple turnout records, but that did little to temper Democratic critics of the new rules for the 2024 presidential cycle put in place by the state’s GOP officials.
"I was just in Georgia. You know they passed a law that makes it illegal to give people food and water for standing in line to vote?" Vice President Kamala Harris told a rally crowd in Michigan earlier this week. "The hypocrisy abounds. Whatever happened to ‘love thy neighbor,’ right?"
Meanwhile, President Biden called Georgia’s election security laws "Jim Crow 2.0" in 2022.
Georgia’s Republican-majority legislature passed several laws since 2020 to increase security around the voting process after the Peach State was thrust under scrutiny in the previous presidential race.
Among them were measures to expand the ability to challenge voter eligibility, a rule limiting ballot drop boxes based on population size and, perhaps most notably, a measure forbidding political organizations from handing out food and drinks to voters waiting in line within a certain distance from a polling place.
Election workers are, however, permitted to set up self-serve water stations.
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Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
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