Georgia lawmakers pass sweeping voting bill that would curtail the use of drop boxes and allow challenges to voting eligibility

The bill would impose new identification requirements for those casting ballots by mail; curtail the use of drop boxes for absentee ballots; allow challenges to voting eligibility; make it a crime for third-party groups to hand out food and water to voters standing in line; block the use of mobile voting vans, as Fulton County did last year after purchasing two vehicles at a cost of more than $700,000; and prevent local governments from directly accepting grants from the private sector.

The 95-page bill also strips authority from the secretary of state, making him a nonvoting member of the State Elections Board, and allows lawmakers to initiate takeovers of local election boards — measures that critics said could allow partisan appointees to slow down or block election certification or target heavily Democratic jurisdictions, many of which are in the Atlanta area and are home to the state’s highest concentrations of Black and brown voters.

The measure sailed out of the state House and then the Senate in a single afternoon; it now heads to the desk of Republican Gov. Brian Kemp (R), who has not yet announced whether he will sign it, but is expected by many party officials to do so.

A Kemp spokesman did not respond to requests for comment.

In 43 states across the country, Republican lawmakers have proposed at least 250 laws that would limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting with such constraints as stricter ID requirements, limited hours or narrower eligibility to vote absentee, according to data compiled as of Feb. 19 by the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice. Even more proposals have been introduced since then.

In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a voting law earlier this month that reduces early- and Election Day voting hours and moves up the deadline for mail ballots to arrive at local election offices.

In Georgia, Democrats and voting-rights advocates condemned the bill as a flagrant effort to make it harder for some voters to cast their ballots — particularly those in larger, minority-heavy counties that have a long history of insufficient polling locations and long lines.

“It is like the Christmas tree of goodies in terms of voter suppression,” said Sen. Jen Jordan, a Democrat, on the Senate floor Thursday.

“‘We want to provide opportunities for people to vote,’” she said, echoing Republican descriptions of the measure. “This bill is absolutely about opportutnies — but it ain’t about the opportunity to vote. It’s about…