According to reports, Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock admitted to signing off on false information in a third-party advocacy email regarding Georgia’s new voting law, which was distributed after the bill was signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp.
In a piece titled, “How the corporate backlash to Georgia’s new voting law is shaping other fights around the country over access to the polls,” The Washington Post reported that Warnock “signed an email sent out by the advocacy group 3.14 Action after the law passed, which claimed it ended no-excuse mail voting and restricted early voting on the weekends,” which were “early proposals that did not become law.”
“A Warnock campaign spokesman said the senator signed off on his statement days before the law passed, when those provisions were still under consideration,” The Washington Post added.
Both provisions — the end of no-excuse mail voting and the restriction of early voting on weekends — were considered but did not make it into the final bill. No-excuse absentee voting is still permitted, with a shorter window of 67 days to apply, while early voting has actually been expanded to 17 days, including two Saturdays.
No-excuse absentee voting allows voters to request mail-in ballots for any reason, while some states require voters to provide an acceptable excuse.
“The statement went out on March 30, five days after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed the final bill into law,” according to Fox News.
President Joe Biden has also been criticized for spreading misinformation regarding Georgia’s contentious election integrity law. The Washington Post fact-checker, Glenn Kessler, highlighted two false statements from the President:
“What I’m worried about is how un-American this whole initiative is. It’s sick. It’s sick … deciding that you’re going to end voting at five o’clock when working people are just getting off work,” Biden said during a news conference on March 25, and “Among the outrageous parts of this new state law, it ends voting hours early so working people can’t cast their vote after their shift is over,” he added in a statement on March 26.
These statements were given a rating of “Four Pinocchios” by The Washington Post, which the Post simply defines as “whoppers.”
“With Senate Bill 202, Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible and fair,” Gov. Kemp said in March when he signed the bill into law. “Ensuring the integrity of the ballot box isn’t partisan, it’s about protecting the very foundation of who we are as Georgians and Americans.”
The key components of Georgia’s election integrity law aim to improve ballot security and standardize the variations which occurred across the state during the November elections, with “broad discretion allowed to local officials.” In addition, instead of signature verification, Georgians who wish to cast their absentee-by-mail ballots will now be required to prove their identity in the form of a driver’s license, state ID number, or other form of identification.