Veterans slam Georgia voter security laws

Hours before the CNN showdown Thursday, a national veterans organization spoke out against voter laws passed in Georgia since 2020.

Republican state lawmakers passed a series of voting laws following Donald Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden in 2020 that they said were aimed at preventing voting fraud. However, allegations of widespread voting fraud were never substantiated, even after multiple recounts and investigations.

The veteran’s organization Common Defense specifically criticized laws requiring voter ID, limiting drop box locations, and allowing for state takeover of local elections. Supporters say the changes were needed to make voting more secure and restore confidence in state elections.

“We continue to volunteer and serve our nation at the forefront, as we face this battle that is now at our shores,” Georgia Lead Organizer for the veterans organization Ed Anderson said. “The enemy is within and we have to prepare ourselves as well as prepare the public to be able to fight that war so that democracy will stand for another 250, 300 years.”

The 65-year-old Veteran hopes to reinvigorate voters through grassroots efforts, “We know certain areas are going to turn out for certain candidates, regardless,” Anderson said. “What we’re trying to do is offset that. If we can 12,000 more disinterested voters to come in and make up that difference, we might be able to make a stand in this election.”

Common Defense is not the only organization fighting against the changes to Georgia’s voting laws. During a virtual news conference Tuesday Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo labeled voter challenge efforts “an assault on our democracy.”

“This is an assault on our fellow citizens. There is already a well-established list of maintenance practices in Georgia and around the country. This is unnecessary vigilante work meant to chill participation and propagate lies around our election system.”

However, Kelly Loeffler’s voter registration group Greater Georgia believes these laws have made voting more secure.

“With three weeks of early voting and no-excuse absentee voting by mail, Georgia offers voters ample opportunity to cast their ballots outside of Election Day, with common-sense guardrails, like voter ID, that keep our elections safe,” a Greater Georgia spokeswoman said.

“In the courts, in public polling and in election returns themselves, the voter suppression myth has been disproven time and again. It’s time to embrace the truth: that our state has made it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”

Many election skeptics continue to believe fraud was rampant in the 2020 election. Nearly 60% of conservatives said they worry about the fairness of the upcoming election, according to an AJC poll released this week. liberal voters were more confident, with 76% saying they were at least somewhat confident in this year’s election, according to the AJC poll.

Volunteer activists continue to challenge the eligibility of voters. Election boards across the state have faced hundreds of thousands of challenges, the vast majority of cases have been dismissed, since the 2020 election. Volunteers are expected to challenge the eligibility of thousands more through a bill signed into law by Gov. Brian Kemp effective July 1.