by Matthew Rusling
WASHINGTON, April 13 (Xinhua) -- New voting laws in the U.S. state of Georgia have sparked a knock-down, drag-out fight between Democrats and Republicans, with corporations jumping into the fray.
Months after the presidential election, in which Republicans argue that irregularities in the voting process occurred, Republican-led Georgia passed a package of new voting laws.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp contended the laws make it "harder to cheat," and Republicans said the laws are nothing different from those in many other states. This also comes after an election in which Republicans claimed there were many irregularities.
But Democrats are outraged, arguing that the laws are a throwback to those in place over 50 years ago that discriminated against African Americans.
This has sparked a fight with civil-rights groups arguing that the bill makes it more difficult for non-white voters to cast their ballots. They allege the law violates the 14th Amendment, which provides equal protection under the law, as well as the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The Election Integrity Act of 2021 requires voters to provide identification when requesting absentee ballots. The law also stipulates that all counties must allow early voting, but that no one can allow voting outside of a 7a.m. to 7p.m. time frame. It also puts a limit on early voting days, which critics said could cause longer waiting periods in more densely populated areas that lean Democratic.
Groups including the Georgia National Association for the Advancement of Colored People have filed lawsuits against the state, alleging that the laws will suppress votes.
"This is Jim Crow on steroids," U.S. President Joe Biden said, likening the new rules to voter suppression laws in place over 50 years ago.
There are others who see it differently.
Appearing on Fox News last week, Alveda King, the niece of U.S. African American civil rights icon Martin Luther King, said the new Georgia laws are not discriminatory.
King said that while she and her family fought for civil rights, they always believed that voters needed a valid form of identification "that would prove you are a citizen of the United States."
Those who are calling the new laws discriminatory are essentially saying "you don't need identification (to vote)," King said.
"President Biden is very adept at race-baiting ... If you throw skin color into a discussion, and you step on the emotions of people who have fought to be considered equal in these United States, then you're going to immediately get support and confusion for that position," King said.
"He (Biden) is not telling the truth. Voter identification is not voter suppression," King said.
Martin Luther King's activism helped pass the landmark Civil Rights Act in the 1960s -- one of the most significant legislative achievements in U.S. history -- which banned raced-based discrimination in the United States.
CORPORATIONS JUMP INTO THE MIX
A number of U.S. corporations have jumped into the fray. Major League Baseball has moved the all-star game out of Atlanta, a major city in Georgia, to protest the law.
Local media has run a number of stories on how the move has hurt local black-owned businesses and African Americans working in the restaurant and hospitality industries, and estimates predict the pullout will result in millions of U.S. dollars in lost revenue. This comes at a time when restaurants are just getting back on their feet after feeling the sting of COVID-19 lockdowns.
Republican Strategist and TV news personality Ford O'Connell told Xinhua it's a major mistake for corporations to behave in this manner.
"I think the people responding to this are the brand offense people who appear to sit on Twitter all day and think the commentary is real," O'Connell said.
Republicans have vowed to punish corporations that have voiced opposition to Georgia's new voting laws.
Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Darrell West told Xinhua that "businesses are under tremendous pressure from their customers, especially younger ones," and are unlikely to change their positions.
Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua that other GOP-led states will pass similar laws on the heels of the Georgia laws.
"Texas is the next important state to watch," Ramsay said.
Indeed, similar laws in the states of Texas and Arizona are gathering steam, and since March 47 U.S. states have introduced over 300 measures similar to the Georgia bill.
With Democrats casting Georgia's laws as discriminatory, the new regulations may eventually have the impact of causing an increased number of African Americans to get out and vote, argued Bloomberg opinion columnist Jonathan Bernstein in a recent article. Enditem
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