Thanks to the tireless work of voting rights activists like Stacey Abrams, the state of Georgia went blue in the 2020 presidential election, and in January of this year, it delivered two key Senate victories, giving Democrats a razor thin majority in the body.
Despite former President Donald Trump's pressure on state legislatures and on local officials in Georgia, the state submitted its electoral votes, officially going blue for the first time since 1992.
Determined not to see the state go blue again, Republicans in Georgia are scrambling to suppress the votes of as many people as possible, especially in communities of color.
And on Thursday afternoon, Georgia's Republican legislature passed a broad measure to limit voting by mail, limits ballot drop boxes, expands the power of the state legislature over elections, forbids bringing food or water to voters in long lines, and other twisted limitations on the people's votes.
Hours later, Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp—who himself relied on voter suppression to win his last gubernatorial race—signed the bill into law.
But as Kemp was signing it, State Representative Park Cannon knocked on his door to voice her opposition—only to be arrested by Georgia police.
Watch below.
After Cannon gently but insistently knocked, the police grabbed her by the arms and dragged her to their vehicle. Because Georgia law prohibits legislators from being arrested during a session except for treason or felony, Cannon was reportedly charged with two felonies.
She later gave an update on the incident.
The arrest of a state legislator for seeking a word with her state's governor reverberated outrage across the country.
Opposition is building against Georgia's voter suppression law.
The Senate is currently considering the For The People Act, a massive voting rights bill passed by the House, which would limit the ability of states to suppress their voters. Georgia's law has demonstrated the necessity of this bill, but it will take a bypass of the 60 vote threshold imposed by the filibuster to have a chance of passing.
