We oppose SB 67 that require voter ID for requesting an absentee ballot by mail
To Senate Ethics Committee Members
VIA EMAIL
SB 67 threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Georgia voters. It threatens to disenfranchise the gains achieved by AAPI voters. It threatens growing electorates that are full of members from Black, Asian and Latinx communities. Voter ID laws, such as Georgia’s existing photo ID law, depress voter turnout without serving any legitimate purpose. Voter ID laws make voting much more difficult, if not entirely infeasible, for many voters.
We oppose the portions of SB 67 that require voter ID for requesting an absentee ballot by mail because it imposes an unreasonable burden on Georgia voters, creates barriers to absentee voting, and decreases access to the ballot. Bills of this nature threaten the AAPI vote and eat away at voter confidence for foreign-born voters. This bill requires anyone without a Georgia driver’s license or personal identification card to submit a photocopy of another form of ID to be able to apply for an absentee ballot. This threatens to disenfranchise Georgia voters. Voter ID laws, such as Georgia’s existing photo ID law, depress voter turnout without serving any legitimate purpose.
Absentee voting has long been a crucial part of ensuring access to the ballot for elderly voters, voters with disabilities, and voters without reliable transportation—some of the same voters who are also more likely to struggle to obtain government-issued photo ID. And the 2020 elections, in which unprecedented numbers of Georgians voted by mail, prove that absentee voting is even more critical to ensuring that Georgians can safely access the ballot during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Other states expanded their voting by mail options in 2020 in response to the pandemic.
Importantly, the increase in absentee voting did not result in an increased incidence of voter fraud. Yet SB 67 would make absentee voting not only more burdensome but also less reliable, The number one reason that absentee ballots were rejected during the June 2020 primary in Georgia was because they did not arrive to county boards of election until after Election Day. Implementing a photo ID requirement during the absentee ballot application process unnecessarily further complicates the process and increases the risk that absentee ballots will not be timely voted. Given that SB 67 does not specify how promptly absentee voters must be notified of a deficiency, some voters would almost certainly receive notification too late and thus be completely disenfranchised.
