Georgia House Republicans just introduced a bill to ban early voting on Sundays prior to election, when Black churches do Souls to the Polls get out the vote drives

A 48-page voter suppression bill was released by GA House Republicans at 1:53 PM today before 3 pm hearing. Democracy dying in the dark https://twitter.com/TindallSara/status/1362480548497809409

Here is the language eliminating Sunday voting (h/t @stphnfwlr)

https://beta.documentcloud.org/documents/20488034-hb-531-lc-28-0215

Hearing happening now https://livestream.com/accounts/25225474/events/8737135

When North Carolina Republicans eliminated Sunday voting after SCOTUS gutted Voting Rights Act 4th Circuit called it "as close to a smoking gun as we are likely to see in modern times" https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/29/the-smoking-gun-proving-north-carolina-republicans-tried-to-disenfranchise-black-voters/

New voter suppression law introduced by GOP lawmaker who represented white election board members in majority-Black town of Sparta GA that tried to purge 20% of Black voters from rolls & sent police to serve them summons https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/02/voting-rights-republicans-trump-georgia/

The bill allows early voting on only 1 weekend day, second Saturday before election. This has nothing to do with stopping voter fraud, it's pure voter suppression

People waited 11 hours during early voting in Georgia in 2020 & this will make it worse

"This bill is Jim Crow with a suit and tie" says @CommonCauseGA

165 new voting restrictions already introduced in 33 states this year according to @BrennanCenter. That number is rising every day.

This underscores why Dems need to pass John Lewis Voting Rights Act & For the People Act to stop GOP voter suppression

Why new voter suppression bills in Georgia so dangerous:

during Georgia primary voters in predominantly white areas waited 6 minutes to vote while voters in predominantly minority areas waited 51 minutes to vote

After Black voters turned out in record numbers to flip Georgia & elect 2 Dem senators, Georgia Republicans introduce new voter suppression bill eliminating Sunday voting, when Black churches hold Souls to the Polls drives. Not even hiding the racism https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2021/02/georgia-republicans-voter-suppression-bill/

Why are Georgia Republicans trying to cut early voting?

-In Jan 5 runoffs more Dems than Republicans voted early for first time

-In November Black voters used weekend voting at higher rates than whites in 43 of 50 largest counties

New Georgia GOP voter suppression bill:

-ends Sunday voting when Black voters use Souls to the Polls

-give voters less time to request & return mail ballots

-restricts mail ballot drop boxes

-adds voter ID for mail voting

-makes it more likely ballots thrown out

Hearing happening now in GA House on new GOP voter suppression bill, less than 24 hours after it was introduced

Republicans trying to rewrite state's entire voting laws with almost no public input https://livestream.com/accounts/25225474/events/8729747

Georgia Republicans want to eliminate Sunday voting, when Black churches hold Souls to the Polls get out the vote drives

Black voters are roughly 30% of Georgia's electorate but make up 36.7% of Sunday voters, according to @fairfightaction