After Georgia voters delivered Democrats a crucial Senate majority, in addition to going blue in the 2020 presidential election, Republican legislators in the state scrambled to implement even more restrictions on access to the ballot box.
Late last month, its Republican Governor—Brian Kemp—signed S.B. 202 into law. The legislation requires ID for absentee ballots, limits the number of ballot drop boxes available in each jurisdiction, effectively bans providing voters in long lines with food or water, and introduces a host of other obstacles to vote.
The bill became the subject of national outrage, and Republican lawmakers at the national level leapt to further defend their consistent support for voter suppression under the guise of election security.
After Major League Baseball announced it was moving its All-Star Game from Atlanta, Georgia to Denver, Colorado in protest of the new law, Republicans tried to call out the league for hypocrisy, falsely claiming that Colorado's voting laws are more restrictive than Georgia's.
Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) tweeted that Georgia allows early voting for two days longer than the Centennial State.
Scott, who said last month that "woke supremacy is as bad as white supremacy," claimed that "The Wokes" were at it again.
But CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale was quick to set the record straight, calling it an "absurd comparison."
I'm leaving aside the fact that the number of early voting days in primaries and generals (the number Scott referred to) is not critics' issue with the new Georgia law -- it's a bunch of other stuff -- and the pedantic point that the Braves play in Cobb County, about 29% Black.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 6, 2021
Colorado also has drop boxes available 24 hours a day until the evening of Election Day. Under the new Georgia law, boxes can be available at most half the day, and only during the early voting period. Anyway: I shall write an article.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 6, 2021
Dale pointed out that Colorado sends every resident a mail-in ballot, and that the vast majority of its voters cast their ballot by mail.
Senator Scott wasn't the only person whose misinformation Dale had to correct—he also fact-checked those who claimed Colorado requires a photo ID to vote.
2) Colorado sends a mail ballot to all active registered voters. In 2016 and 2020, more than 90% voted by mail. Unlike Georgia's new law, Colorado doesn't require ID for mail voters except for first-timers.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 6, 2021
3) The Georgia law bans “any person" from giving out food and drink in the vicinity of voters in line (with an exception for election staff setting up a water station), not just campaign workers.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 6, 2021
People were thankful for Dale's correction.
Meanwhile, Senator Scott and others were called out for their misinformation.
Democratic Senators are currently working to pass the For The People Act—a landmark voting rights bill recently passed by the House that would stem voter suppression laws like the one passed in Georgia.
Unsurprisingly, Republican Senators have been vocally opposed to it.
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