Everyone knows what is going on in the U.S. House, but meanwhile the state legislature is set to return next week and the U.S. Senate is getting a headstart on their capitol hill counterparts. One item possibly up for discussion in the legislature will be election reform.
Perhaps overlooked during the Christmas season was Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal where he defended his administration and the state legislature against claims of voter suppression from Senator Raphael Warnock. Raffensperger pointed to Sen. Warnock’s claim during his victory speech that “Just because [voters] endured the rain and cold and all kinds of tricks in order to vote, doesn’t mean that voter suppression does not exist.” He also reminded readers of President Joe Biden’s labeling of the Georgia legislature’s election reform laws last year as “Jim Crow 2.0.”
Raffensperger noted that he’s not sure what Warnock is referring to by “tricks.” “Perhaps he’s referring to Georgia’s common-sense requirement of photo ID for all forms of voting, which he has supported overturning through a federal takeover of elections. Or maybe he’s referring to our citizenship check, which his allies are still trying to overturn in court,” said Raffensperger.
As someone who has taken slings about election integrity from both sides, Raffensperger has gotten some practice at defending his and his office’s work. “What was the result of all this “voter suppression”? Record turnout in election after election and calls from Mr. Biden to move Georgia’s primary up in the calendar to make it more influential in his re-election bid. He doesn’t believe his own claims,” said Raffensperger.
Raffensperger’s concerns are based on his front row seat to what distrust in elections can yield. In 2018 and 2020, his office was deluged with criticism from first Stacey Abrams after her gubernatorial loss and then President Trump after his loss in the state. The secretary takes issue with the idea that candidates should claim voter suppression as a get-out-the-vote strategy, despite the corrosion to democracy.
Warnock has responded to Raffensperger’s criticism, telling CBS News the day after Raffensperger’s op-ed “The fact that people have had to overcome barriers doesn’t mean those barriers don’t exist. We literally saw college students and seniors in lines that were hours and hours and hours long. Maybe [Raffensperger is] happy with that. I’m not. I think we can do better than that.” Warnock noted that his win does not void his concerns. “We should not assume that because I won that voter suppression is not an issue in Georgia.”
With 2020 election critic Burt Jones taking the helm as Lieutenant Governor – not to mention a triumphant Governor Brian Kemp, any rolling back of the election reforms put into place by the state legislature last year is highly unlikely.
Something that is getting a bit of buzz – though also highly unlikely, yet – is an instant runoff system. After three consecutive senate races that yielded expensive runoffs, Secretary Raffensperger is among several prominent Georgians to propose finding a way to getting rid of the runoff. This might be something both Raffensperger and Warnock can agree on. The Senator has advocated for the system and the Secretary has said he is open to the idea, among others, to get rid of the runoff.
But the legislature has remained quiet on it and a radical change like that would seem unlikely before 2024.
