Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed a nearly 100-page election bill into law on Thursday evening after state lawmakers in the House and Senate voted to pass the bill earlier in the day.
The law will make several changes to voting regulations in the state, including requiring photo ID for mail-in ballots, reducing early voting for runoff elections and banning the distribution of food and drinks to people waiting in line to vote.
The 95-page bill contains dozens of proposals pitched by Republicans that would require stricter voter ID rules for mail-in ballots, ban people from handing out food and drink to voters waiting in line outside polling places and halt absentee ballot applications from being accepted within 11 days of an election.
The bill would expand early voting for primary and general elections, but not for runoffs, which is how Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock secured their Senate seats –– and the Democrats’ majority –– in January, breaking a decades-long streak of Democrats losing in statewide runoff elections.
mong highlights, the law requires a photo ID in order to vote absentee by mail, after more than 1.3 million Georgia voters used that option during the COVID-19 pandemic.
