Former President Donald Trump on April 6 renewed his criticism of the recently enacted set of election reforms in Georgia, saying the new law failed to eliminate no-excuse mail-in voting and did away with signature verification, among other issues.
“Georgia’s election reform law is far too weak and soft to ensure real ballot integrity! Election Day is supposed to be Election Day, not Election Week or Election Month. Far too many days are given to vote. Too much ’mischief' can happen during this very long period of time,” Trump said in a statement released through his Save America political action committee.
“You saw that in the 2020 Presidential Election. How’s Ruby Freeman doing?” the former president added, referring to the election official who was at the center of a controversy surrounding ballot-counting in Atlanta.
The new Georgia law, titled the Election Integrity Act of 2021, expands access to early voting by adding one Saturday and two optional Sundays to the existing three-week early voting period. Trump has long criticized extended early voting periods, including during his first public speech after leaving the White House. He told the Conservative Political Action Conference in Florida in February that elections should take place only on Election Day.
Georgia’s new law also preserved no-excuse mail-in voting. The act did away with signature matching in favor of verifying the identities of people voting by mail by requiring they submit their driver’s license or state ID number. People without either form of ID can submit the last four digits of their Social Security number. Georgia had already required voters to present a physical ID to cast a ballot in person.
“Governor Brian Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State should have eliminated no-excuse, widespread mass Mail-In Voting, gotten rid of the dangerous and unsecure Drop-Boxes, and should have kept and EXPANDED Signature Verification to do matches against the historical voter file, among other things! Hope the RINOs are happy,” Trump said, using the acronym for “Republicans in name only.”
“Kemp also caved to the radical left-wing woke mob who threatened to call him racist if he got rid of weekend voting. Well, he kept it, and they still call him racist!”
The Election Integrity Act of 2021 limited, but didn’t completely eliminate, absentee ballot drop boxes. The law requires the drop boxes to be placed inside buildings and mandates that they are monitored around the clock.
Kemp has defended the law from attacks from the left but hasn’t publicly responded to criticism from Trump. The governor’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment by press time.
