Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp has signed sweeping voting laws that civil rights activists are calling the worst voter fraud legislation since Jim Crow.
The bill gives state governments wide authority to take over election administration from city and county election boards. It also imposes additional voter ID requirements, severely regulates mail ballot drop boxes, rejects ballots cast in the incorrect precinct, and encourages political extremists to contest the eligibility of an infinite number of voters.
A clause in the bill would also make giving food or drink to voters standing in line at polling stations a felony.
The bill was passed along party lines by both houses of Georgia’s legislature on Thursday. The bill was signed in private by Governor Kemp, who was accompanied by six white men.
