The latest on Georgia's new law suppressing voting access

Georgia yesterday became the first presidential battleground to impose new voting restrictions following President Biden's victory in the state.

The state's changing demographics had made the longtime Republican stronghold a key political battleground last year. In November, Biden became the first Democrat in nearly three decades to win the state. And strong voter turnout in January helped send two Democrats to the US Senate, flipping control of the chamber to their party.

Republicans cast Georgia's measure, dubbed The Election Integrity Act of 2021, as necessary to boost confidence in elections after the 2020 election saw Trump make repeated, unsubstantiated claims of fraud.

By changing its election laws, Gov. Brian Kemp said of the law Thursday, "Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible, and fair."

Kemp, who is up for reelection next year, had refused to give in to former President Trump's demands last year that he overturn Biden's victory — earning Trump's public condemnation. But on Thursday, Kemp said "alarming issues" with the 2020 election demonstrated the need for change.

During Thursday's floor debate, Republican state Rep. Barry Fleming — a key architect of the new law — argued it would provide "more accountability" to the election process in the state.

Officials with Heritage Action for America — one of the national Republican groups leading efforts to clamp down on ballot access in the name of "election integrity" — praised Kemp, lawmakers and the 20,000 conservative activists it said had lobbied lawmakers to pass the overhaul. Georgia's new law makes "the state a model for the rest of the country," Heritage officials said.

Voting rights advocates and state leaders, meanwhile, say the state's rapid-fire action — and plans in other Republican-controlled states to pass restrictions of their own — underscores the need for federal legislation to set a national baseline for voting rules.

Stacey Abrams, the founder of Fair Fight Action and a former Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, said the state's Republicans showed they were intent on "reviving Georgia's dark past of racist voting laws."

The Georgia bill underwent major change in recent days — growing from a narrow, two-page bill into a sweeping omnibus package to becoming law in a little over a week. Activists and Black religious leaders in the state held rallies and threatened corporate boycotts in an unsuccessful attempt to disrupt its progress through the General Assembly.

Advocates said they were alarmed by measures that will allow any Georgian to lodge an unlimited number of challenges to voter registrations and eligibility, saying it could put a target on voters of color. And Democrats in the Georgia Senate on Thursday lambasted measures that boot the secretary of state as chairman of the state elections board and allow lawmakers to install his replacement, giving lawmakers three of five appointments.

Biden, meanwhile, repeated his call today for Congress to pass voting rights legislation, adding, "This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end."

The bill passed in Georgia is part of a larger effort by GOP-led legislatures across the country to pass restrictive voting measures in key states like Arizona, Michigan and Florida.

As of February, state legislators in 43 states have introduced more than 250 bills with restrictive voting provisions, according to a tally from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday called on Congress to strengthen voting rights a day after Georgia passed a sweeping elections bill.

She went on to call Georgia's new law restricting voting access “abusive."  

Asked if doing away with the filibuster was a step she was willing to take, Harris followed in-line with President Biden’s comments, saying that it will be the Senate that makes that decision but added, “we do have to get to a place where it's not so easy to block progress because the American people need us to act."

“Well, I think the President was quite clear and by the way I thought he did a really great job in his press conference yesterday and answered everything for over an hour,” she said.

“He was very clear which is that we should take a look at the filibuster. He made his thoughts clear about the talking filibuster and ultimately, it's going to be the Senate that's going to make that decision,” she added. “But let me just add that we do have to get to a place where it's not so easy to block progress because the American people need us to act.”

President Biden said Friday that the Justice Department is taking a look at Georgia’s restrictive voting law.

When asked if there was anything the White House could do to protect voting rights in Georgia, Biden told reporters on a tarmac in Delaware, “We’re working on that right now. We don’t know quite exactly what we can do at this point. The Justice Department’s taking a look as well.”

Asked about the strong words in a statement about the law he put out earlier Friday, Biden said the words were “not as strong as I was really thinking.” 

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp later responded to Biden’s remarks on the Georgia voting bill in a statement today, saying, “There is nothing ‘Jim Crow’ about requiring a photo or state-issued ID to vote by absentee ballot – every Georgia voter must already do so when voting in-person. President Biden, the left, and the national media are determined to destroy the sanctity and security of the ballot box."

Voting rights advocates say Georgia's new law restricting voting access — and plans in other Republican-controlled states to pass restrictions of their own — underscores the need for federal legislation to set a national baseline for voting rules.

In a statement released this afternoon on Georgia's voting law, President Biden repeated his call for Congress to pass voting rights legislation, adding, "This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end."

House Democrats have passed a sweeping bill that includes a number of voting reforms, including automatic national voter registration.

Stacey Abrams, the founder of Fair Fight Action and a former Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, said the state's Republicans showed they were intent on "reviving Georgia's dark past of racist voting laws."

"Now, more than ever, Americans must demand federal action to protect voting rights," she said in a statement.

Currently, 18 states and Washington, DC, have automatic registration. Expanding that requirement nationwide could enfranchise 50 million Americans, according to the Brennan Center.

The bill would do a lot more, including putting an end to partisan gerrymandering, by which parties draw congressional lines to protect their incumbents, mandating a two-week early voting period and more.

But it would require a supermajority — at least 60 votes — to overcome a promised GOP filibuster in the Senate. Democrats have suggested changing Senate rules specifically for this bill, but it's not clear all Democrats would support the rule change.

CNN's Kelly Mena, Fredreka Schouten, Dianne Gallagher and Pamela Kirkland contributed reporting to this post.

President Biden continued to rail against the newly passed Georgia elections law on Friday, telling reporters outside the White House that the law has nothing to do with fairness or decency.

When asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins to comment on the new law, Biden called it “an atrocity.”

"Give me a break,” he added.

Moments before walking toward Marine One, Biden released a statement calling the law “Jim Crow in the 21st century.”

Watch the moment:

President Biden just released a statement calling the restrictive voting law passed in Georgia yesterday a "blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience."

The President also urged Congress to pass voting bills, including the For the People Act that was approved in the Democratic-led House earlier this month.

Biden said that instead of "celebrating the rights of all Georgians to vote," Republicans in the state "rushed through an un-American law to deny people the right to vote."

The President also added that he will take his case to the American people, “including Republicans who joined the broadest coalition of voters ever in this past election to put country before party.”

More on the law: Republicans in Georgia sped the sweeping elections bill into law Thursday. It passed both chambers of the state's legislature in the span of a few hours. The measure imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it illegal to hand out food or water to people standing in line to vote.

The package is part of a national GOP effort that aims to restrict access to the ballot box following record turnout in the election. Republicans cast the measure as necessary to boost confidence in elections after the 2020 election saw Trump make repeated, unsubstantiated claims of fraud. Voting rights advocates say Georgia's rapid-fire action — and plans in other Republican-controlled states to pass restrictions of their own — underscores the need for federal legislation to set a national baseline for voting rules.

Biden, in his first White House news conference Thursday, said that he will "do everything" in his power to halt efforts to restrict voting rights, saying that he thinks the efforts underway in the state legislatures are "un-American."

CNN's Kelly Mena, Fredreka Schouten, Dianne Gallagher and Pamela Kirkland contributed reporting to this post.

The White House is “deeply concerned by the actions that were taken by law enforcement” to arrest a Georgia state lawmaker late Thursday, press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at a briefing Friday. 

“The largest concern here obviously beyond her being treated in the manner she was… is the law that was put into place,” she added. 

Asked if the President would be calling Georgia state Rep. Park Cannon, Psaki said she didn’t have “any calls to preview.” 

As CNN previously reported, Cannon was arrested and removed from the Georgia state Capitol on Thursday after passage of the state's sweeping elections bill restricting voting access.

In a video posted to social media, a Georgia Capitol police officer speaks with the Democrat outside the door to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's office. 

After knocking on the office door during Kemp's signing of SB 202, Cannon is seen being led away by several officers with her hands cuffed behind her back.

In a statement Thursday night, Georgia State Patrol said that at 6:33 p.m. local time, Cannon "was beating on the door to the Governor's Office," and, when told to stop, moved on to the Governor's Ceremonial Office door marked with a "Governor's Staff Only" sign and knocked on that door.

President Biden will release a statement later today on the sweeping election bill signed into law by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday, the White House said Friday. 

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters that the President is “worried” about the initiative, adding that the law makes it “more challenging, not easier to vote.” 

The new law imposes new voter identification requirements for absentee ballots, empowers state officials to take over local elections boards, limits the use of ballot drop boxes and makes it a crime to approach voters in line to give them food and water.

Psaki also said that Biden is “watching closely” and will be “engaging with members of Congress” to “prevent attacks on the sacred right to vote.” 

“When he was in Georgia, just two weeks ago, he met with Stacey Abrams while he was there and he will also continue to encourage and engage with outside leaders and activists on steps they can take,” Psaki said. “Obviously there's a range of groups and organizations that may take legal action.”

“Some of that going to be more appropriate from outside of the White House,” she said. 

Abrams, the founder of Fair Fight Action and a former Democratic gubernatorial nominee in Georgia, said the state's Republicans showed they were intent on "reviving Georgia's dark past of racist voting laws."

"Now, more than ever, Americans must demand federal action to protect voting rights," she said in a statement.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat from Georgia, spoke about state lawmaker Rep. Park Cannon’s arrest and removal from the state Capitol on Thursday, after knocking on the office door during Gov. Brian Kemp's signing of a sweeping election bill restricting voting access.

He added at the Friday news conference that he’ll “let the investigation play itself out.. maybe there's something that I haven't seen” but in the video all he saw was her “knocking” on the door.

“Contrast that with folks who staged a violent insurrection on the United States Capitol. Police officers and others were killed,” he said. “I want to know from those who are using the premise of that assault as the basis for a craven takeover of power in Georgia, why they’re OK with that and somehow the actions of a state legislator knocking on the door of a governor who is signing a law that impacts her constituents. Why her actions are somehow so dangerous and criminal that she got charged with two felonies?”

On the voting bill the Georgia legislature passed last night, Warnock said “as bad as it is” what they were trying to pass was “even worse.” 

He said the law, SB 202, “will allow for a hostile takeover of local boards of elections if the Georgia legislature filled with politicians doesn't like the outcome of an election. It's anti-democratic. It's un-American.”

Warnock also argued this is “an interesting change in tune” for Kemp. “[Kemp] just said a couple years ago that everything was under control with our elections here in Georgia. Our own secretary of state said that the election that was held, this most recent election, was not rife with fraud as some have tried to suggest.”

“What's the purpose behind all of this?” he asked. “So, you are literally going to make public policy based on a lie? Based on the feeling that some people have that things didn't turn out the way they should have turned out? Is that how we make public policy? I thought we made public policy based on facts and data… if there's one thing that's clear, it's that the Georgia election was certainly free of any consequential fraud.”