Kerby Anderson

It’s one thing to continually repeat the slogan “voter suppression,” but it is quite another to prove it in a court of law. The Biden Justice Department announced a week ago that it would file a lawsuit against Georgia because of its new election law. The US attorney general alleges that the new law would restrict the rights of minorities.

The “complaint alleges that recent changes in Georgia’s election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color.” That’s quite an allegation. Now the attorneys will have the difficult task of proving malice and must explain why asking for a photo ID or having regular voting hours is somehow trying to suppress voting.

In past Georgia elections, critics said that asking for a photo ID would suppress votes. It did not. Registration and turnout have soared in Georgia after such requirements were put in place. As one of the guests on my radio program noted, if the goal of past election laws was to restrict voting and implement what some have called “Jim Crow 2.0,” the legislators have been doing a terrible job. Another guest described how the election laws were much more restrictive in Delaware (Joe Biden’s home state) than any of the provisions in the latest version of Georgia’s election laws.

Here are three of the controversial elements of the Georgia law (SB 202). See if you can figure out what is so discriminatory. In-person voters must have a photo ID or other identification like a utility bill. Absentee voters now must provide their voter ID number on their ballot instead of the current signature matching verification process. The bill also standardizes early voting hours.

Other state legislatures will be watching this lawsuit. Let’s be praying for judicial common sense in the final ruling.