GOP Senator Called Out for Trying to Use 'God' to Justify Voting Restrictions

After the party's loss in the 2020 election, Republicans at state and federal levels are increasing their attacks on people's right to vote.

Perhaps no state knows this better than Georgia, which has seen a slate of GOP proposals that would greatly limit access to the ballot box, following the state's vote for President Joe Biden in 2020 and for two Democratic Senators in 2021.

Among these proposals is a piece of legislation that initially eliminated all early Sunday voting. Though Georgia Republicans backed off of this in committee, it would've dealt a crushing blow to Souls to the Polls, a Get Out the Vote initiative among the state's predominantly Black churches.

Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the For The People Act earlier this month, a landmark voting rights bill that would curtail the ability of Republican state legislatures to limit voting rights for their constituents.

With the bill now being considered by the Senate, the body's Rules and Administration Committee held a hearing on the bill and on the efforts of state legislatures to encroach on the right to vote.

After Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called out the Georgia legislature for its attempt to eliminate Sunday voting, Republican Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi invoked God as a reason to justify the limitations on Sunday votes, wrongfully implying that failure to do so would mandate Sunday Election Days.

Watch below.

The Senator said:

"I cannot speak for Georgia, but I can speak for Mississippi on why would we would never do that on a Sunday or hold an election on a Sunday. This is our currency, this is a dollar bill. This says 'The United States of America, in God We Trust.' Etched in stone in the U.S. Senate chamber is 'In God We Trust.' When you swore in all of these witnesses, the last thing you said to them in your instructions was, 'So help you God.'"

She concluded:

"In God's word, in Exodus 20:18, it says, 'Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy,' so that is my response to Senator Schumer."

The comments provoked a wave of reactions regarding her characterization of voting and religion.

Others reminded her that Sabbath in Exodus isn't on Sunday, and that many religions' sacred days differ from each other.

For what it's worth, Hyde-Smith was sworn in on a Sunday just over two months ago. She's also on record saying it's a great idea to make it harder for Democrats to vote.

Democratic Senators are heavily promoting the For The People Act, but they'll still have to find a way through the 60 vote threshold imposed by the Senate filibuster.