[ad_1]
FORMER PRESIDENT: Jimmy Carter delivers a Sunday School conference at a Baptist church in Georgia on November 3, 2019. Photo: John Amis / AP
Republicans in Georgia have voted for laws that limit the ability to vote early in elections. Former President Jimmy Carter (96) does not like events in his home state.
– When our state politicians try to roll back time through legislation that will limit the ability to vote for many Georgia residents, I am discouraged, saddened, and angered.
Former Democracy President Jimmy Carter said in a statement Tuesday.
He ran the United States from 1977 to 1981, and he himself was born and raised in Georgia. Before becoming president, he was, among other things, governor of the state.
After becoming president, he founded the Carter Center with, among others, his wife Rosalynn Carter. Promoting free and fair elections around the world is a central part of the Center’s work.
– The goal should always be to increase, not decrease, participation, he says.
The state of Georgia has long been a stronghold of the Republican Party, but in last year’s presidential election something happened. Voters voted for a Democratic candidate for the first time in 28 years when Joe Biden beat Donald Trump by just under 12,000 votes.
In the Senate elections in early January, the state’s two incumbent Republican senators were also replaced by two Democrats.
This stirred the minds of some Republicans, and the state quickly became a target for former President Donald Trump and his allegations of voter fraud.
Among other things, it has been revealed that Trump is said to have attempted to pressure the state administration minister to “seek” more votes, a case that is currently being investigated at the state level.
Voted via invoice
In 2005, the Georgia Congress decided that citizens should have the opportunity to vote early without giving any specific reason.
On Monday this week, the Senate, where Republicans have a majority, voted a comprehensive bill that would limit this possibility.
According to NTB, the proposal states that early voting will only be possible for people over the age of 65, for people with disabilities, and people who are not physically present in their constituency on Election Day. It will also be required to present photo identification in order to vote early.
also read
Democracy Professor on the United States after the Elections: – An Experience of Terror
Republican Majority Leader Mike Dugan says an increase in the number of early votes put a lot of pressure on the state election office in the presidential election, and that change is needed.
– In recent years, the number of early votes has risen to a level where counties actually hold three elections simultaneously, says according to NTB.
According to the AP news agency, about a million voters in the state, about a fifth of those who voted in last year’s election, used this method, in part due to the corona pandemic.
– It should make us all proud
Several states changed their electoral laws in this year’s election to make it easier for people to “vote far” in relation to the crown pandemic. Republicans are now working to reverse those changes in several states.
also read
Se dokumentar: «President on hold»
In some cases, however, they want to further restrict the laws.
– They are reactions to accusations of electoral fraud, accusations for which no evidence has been presented. Accusations that were effectively refuted through various investigations, accounts and through other measures, says the former president in the statement and adds:
– In November, we saw several successful elections with record attendance and few to no false ballots included. It should make us all proud.
