Georgia's recently passed law making changes at voting sites is not an attempt at voter suppression, as charged by Democrats and many in the mainstream media, but rather an attempt to clean up problems with the process, Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., tells Newsmax TV.
"This is not a voting rights act; this is an election integrity act,' Carter said Monday on "The Chris Salcedo Show."
Carter said that 75% of all Georgians said the state needed to clean up its voting process, and that 60% of Democrats and 69% of African Americans agreed.
"And the state Legislature did their job as it is supposed to be done according to our constitution, and that is they set this the voting process," Carter said. "Anyone who legally voted in the last election will be able to legally vote in this election. There's no question about that. None of that has changed whatsoever."
Carter said Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger overstepped his authority in March 2020 when he entered a settlement agreement with the state Democratic party that made significant changes to the voting process in the state.
"I led a call from the congressional delegation protesting that move by the secretary of state," Carter said. "Our Constitution's clear: The voting processes in the states are to be run by the state legislatures, not by the executive officers, not by the judicial branch."
The law, signed by Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday, requires voters to show IDs when voting absentee by mail, limits the use of ballot drop boxes, shortens the period of runoff elections from nine weeks to four and prohibits volunteers from handing out food and water to voters waiting in line to vote.
Critics have called it a return to "Jim Crow," likening it to poll taxes and literacy tests that prevented Blacks in the South from voting during during the pre-civil rights era.
Critics of the law issued fresh calls Monday to boycott some of the state’s largest businesses for not speaking out more forcefully against the law, a day after advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging it.
In a letter to more than 90,000 parishioners, Bishop Reginald Jackson, who presides over more than 400 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia, said the law is "racist and seeks to return us to the days of Jim Crow."
Jackson is calling for corporate leaders at companies like Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines to speak out in opposition.
"If we cannot persuade them or if they refuse to oppose this legislation then we will organize and implement a boycott of their companies," the letter says.
Coca-Cola said in a statement that the company has been engaged in "advocating for positive change in voting legislation."
Delta Air Lines issued a statement touting some parts of the law, such as expanded weekend voting, but said "we understand concerns remain over other provisions in the legislation and there continues to be work ahead in this important effort."
The Associated Press contributed.
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