OPINION:
Free and fair elections are the bedrock of our democracy. But in 2020, our “leaders” unequivocally failed the voters of Georgia. It began with our utterly incompetent Secretary of State, who sent out mass, unsolicited absentee ballot registrations to millions of people across the state, signed a terrible consent decree that made it harder to flag fraudulent ballots, oversaw the implementation of absentee ballot drop boxes that went completely unmonitored, and stood by as systematic failures led to voter fraud, lost ballots, and poll watching violations.
But perhaps even worse, after overseeing a presidential election riddled with irregularities, Georgia’s officials tried to sweep their incompetence under the rug – blocking a special legislative session and actively refusing a forensic audit of Georgia’s ballots – to protect the Democrats who undermined our elections and prevent the voters from learning the truth about what happened in November of last year.
Their actions had grave consequences. For the first time since 1992, Georgia ‘voted’ Democrat for President. The state turned over both its U.S. Senate seats to radical liberals Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff. And worst of all, voters lost faith in our most fundamental democratic institutions – and their most fundamental democratic rights.
But in April of this year, over the strong objection of Democrats and Republicans alike, my colleagues and I managed to pass Senate Bill 202: The Georgia Election Integrity Act. The legislation was designed to address the many failures of the 2020 election – by throwing out the flawed signature match process for absentee ballots, requiring voter ID across the board, and holding counties accountable for election errors. The bill was also a historic effort to expand access to the ballot – by actually mandating an increase in early voting days. It is a law that delivers more security, transparency, accuracy, and access than ever before - giving voters absolute peace of mind on Election Day.
By no means is this legislation perfect—nor did it go far enough in my opinion. But poll after poll showed the majority of Georgians—and Americans—supported the provisions of the bill. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that a full 75% of Georgia supported voter ID for absentee voting. A separate AJC poll showed that over half of Georgia respondents favored stricter limitations of ballot drop boxes, and 82% said the law made them feel more confident in our elections. And a more recent Monmouth poll found only one third of all voters think that voter fraud is “not a problem at all,” and an additional one third of Americans think that voter fraud cost President Donald J. Trump his election.
But almost immediately after passage, the far-left launched a national effort to overturn the law. Despite the overwhelming popularity of the law, and the many debunked lies of the left, radicals from President Joe Biden to Stacey Abrams began falsely accusing the GOP of “voter suppression” and “Jim Crow” tactics. Their fabricated narrative even drove Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game out of the state – costing Georgia taxpayers an estimated $100 million. But last week, the final shoe dropped when the Biden Administration directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue the state of Georgia over its new election law.
Having lost on the merits and in the court of public opinion, Mr. Biden and his allies are now attempting to use the full force of American bureaucracy – and the nation’s largest law enforcement body – to repeal our conservative election reform. They are so eager to enact their own radical election takeover in the states that they are commandeering the judiciary and deputizing the U.S. Attorney General to get the job done. It is an unprecedented abuse of power coming from the highest office in this nation – but it belies the desperation of a Democrat Party that will do anything to preserve their newfound control and rig future elections. Even as reports of New York City Mayor’s race uncovering 135,000 fraudulent ballots, Biden and the DOJ would rather attack legislation in Georgia that ensures free and fair elections—all for their own political theater.
The good news is that Georgia has a small army of true conservatives who are battle-tested in the fight for free and fair elections. At great personal cost, and against great odds, we have stood up to both sides of the aisle to preserve election integrity. We have overcome career politicians, ousted never-Trump officials, and managed to pass a historic piece of election reform to deliver new security, transparency, and accuracy to voters across the state.
The fight for free and fair elections in this state has been long and difficult, and it will continue to be a tremendous undertaking. But we know that the future of this country is on the line, which is why we will never stop working to protect our democratic institutions. No matter how egregiously the far-left abuses its power, no matter how many lies they tell to the public, and no matter how many underhanded tactics they try, we won’t allow them to get away with stealing another Georgia election in this lifetime.
• Burt Jones is a State Senator in Georgia.
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