Washington, DC — Heritage Action for America, a national conservative grassroots organization, released a statement from Executive Director Jessica Anderson applauding the Georgia legislature for passing SB 202, a major election reform package:
Georgia legislators are leading the fight to protect our elections. These lawmakers have worked tirelessly to make Georgia’s elections more secure, fair, and transparent while promoting voters’ rights, and today they achieved a historic victory. Reforms to make voter ID requirements and early voting access more consistent statewide, modernize the state’s voting rolls, and ensure robust oversight of voting and elections will protect Georgia’s votes and make the state a model for the rest of the country.
Grassroots activists across Georgia worked with lawmakers every step of the way to restore trust and transparency in the electoral process — every voter has the right to trust that their vote counts. Heritage Action is proud to have partnered with over 20,000 activists in the state to help secure these reforms, and we look forward to SB 202 being signed into law.
The reforms passed in SB 202 include:
Protecting absentee voting by requiring voter ID, not automatically sending request forms or ballots to all registered voters, printing ballots on security paper so they can be authenticated, prohibiting ballot trafficking by political operatives, and strengthening supervision of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Promoting the integrity of the election process by prohibiting private funding of election officials and government agencies.
Increasing the accuracy of voter registration lists.
Increasing transparency by allowing election observers complete access to the election process and requiring the ballot-counting to continue without pause until all votes have been tabulated.
Background: Heritage Action recently launched an effort to strengthen Georgia’s election laws and restore voter confidence in the state, including a $600,000 TV ad buy, digital advertising, and a grassroots advocacy initiative, for an initial total investment of $1 million. Heritage Action worked with over 20,000 activists to help them contact their legislators and advocate for election integrity legislation.