Top Republicans in Georgia’s state legislature are backing away from a controversial plan to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting and to do away with early voting on Sundays after increasing criticism from voting rights groups and the state’s largest businesses.
In a hearing late Thursday, legislators said their package of election law changes would drop some of the most controversial elements. State Rep. Barry Fleming (R), who heads the Special Committee on Election Integrity, said the new version of the bill would allow up to four weekend days of early voting, more than what is currently required.
Fleming and state Senate Majority Leader Mike Dugan (R) both said they do not expect the final bill will eliminate no-excuse absentee voting, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The bill would still limit the ability of voting rights advocates to send absentee ballot request forms to voters who have already sought a ballot and would limit a voter’s ability to cast a provisional ballot outside their home precinct.
Voters who cast absentee ballots would have to submit their driver’s license number or other documentation attesting to their identity, a new method of verifying ballots that would stand in for a signature-matching process currently on the books. And the bill would limit drop boxes for absentee ballots to the inside of early voting locations.
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