NEW: the Georgia House Special Committee on Election Integrity is meeting at 3 this afternoon and just added HB 531 - a 48 page omnibus elections bill that proposes a *lot* of changes. #gapol

Here's the text: https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20488034-hb-531-lc-28-0215

First, it would ban county elections offices from receiving outside funding to run elections.

This, after CTCL and Schwarzenegger gave money to both D and R counties in 2020 to help with pandemic.

(although I wonder if the county gov't could take the grant, then disburse?)

Next, it outlines ways that poll workers can serve adjacent counties (currently, you can only work in your county of residence)

This section mirrors an SOS-backed bill from 2020 that would require more machines, more poll workers or splitting up precincts if a 2,000+ person precinct has lines of more than an hour.

More on that proposal: https://www.gpb.org/news/2020/02/28/new-bill-would-tackle-long-lines-at-polling-places

This is an anti-Fulton County mobile voting bus section

(although I still believe that it's using the wrong code section since the busses are for *early* voting and fall under 21-2-382)

Current law requires 1 ballot-marking device per 250 active voters in a precinct for Election Day.

This would keep that for general elections, but allow flexibility for primaries, runoffs and other elections, based on expected turnout+early voting numbers.

This tweaks language about notice of Logic & Accuracy testing, making this very boring and very necessary piece of the voting process more publicly known.

This section is big:

-Earliest request for absentee ballot is 11 weeks before election, latest is 2 Fridays before election

-Application has DL# or state ID# or copy of photo ID, both paper+online

-No gov't/elections office can directly send an absentee ballot application

Drop boxes: allowed at early voting sites, only open during early voting hours, and close once early voting closes.

Also requires constant supervision by election official/poll worker/security/law enforcement.

Absentees:

Most would be sent out starting ~4 weeks before the election (except federal UOCAVA)

Outer absentee envelopes would also require DL #/ID # or last four of Social Security number - and all that would be hidden by envelope design until opened.

Instant runoff ranked-choice voting for UOCAVA voters, although it looks like it gets rid of electronic ballots.

Wow - this section would disallow counties from adding extra weekend early voting hours, and require 9A-5P (with the ability to extend to 7A-7P if needed)

That makes it harder for people that don't have job flexibility, large metro counties+nonwhite voters...

This section gets rid of signature verification, because election workers would be verifying DL # or SSN and Date of Birth.

Also, allows counties to begin processing absentee ballots no earlier than two weeks before election and no later than a week before.

These two sections provide more info about partisan poll watchers, and then bans "line warming" and people giving water or food to people in line (usually at polling places that have long lines)

This section would get rid of out-of-precinct provisionals.

This section would require a bipartisan panel to duplicate ballots that can't be properly scanned.

Georgia's HB 531 would also move up the certification deadline to... the Monday after the election, instead of the Friday after.

That would make a whole lot more work for local officials that have to count all the votes and ensure they're correct.

In the hearing, Fleming says this section provides "uniformity" on dates and times.

But out of GA's 159 counties, some rural counties have as much population county-wide as a single precinct in metro ATL.

It's uniform but unequal. https://twitter.com/stphnfwlr/status/1362489862037905417?s=20

Dean of the House Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) speaking now, and says he doesn't see the rush to make all of these changes, since it's a big bill with a lot of changes.

"There's nothing more important fundamentally than a person's right and the the privilege of voting."

Story: Georgia Republicans File Sweeping Elections Bill That Limits Early, Absentee Voting https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/02/18/georgia-republicans-file-sweeping-elections-bill-limits-early-absentee-voting

Update: the special election integrity committee is holding an all-day hearing Friday on this omnibus voting bill that makes a lot of changes a lot of people aren’t happy about. #gapol

More: https://www.gpb.org/news/2021/02/18/georgia-republicans-file-sweeping-elections-bill-limits-early-absentee-voting