U.S. Sen. John Kennedy learned the hard way last week not to ask Stacey Abrams to name the specific aspects of Georgia’s new election law that she finds problematic.
In an exchange that went viral, the voting rights advocate started listing her objections to the law for about 90 seconds during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing before the Louisiana Republican threw in the towel.
“OK, I get the idea. I get the idea,” he said.
But Abrams wasn’t done.
On Tuesday, she posted a nearly six-minute video that details each of the provisions that she and other Democratic critics of the new law say could make it harder for some Georgians, particularly voters of color, to cast their ballots in future elections.
“Thank you senator, for that question. I know we got cut off before, so let me continue.”
She proceeds to outline provisions that ban on outside groups to hand water or snacks to voters in line, strip power from the secretary of state, give the Legislature new power to oversee local elections, curb the use of drop boxes and impose new ID requirements for absentee ballots.
Gov. Brian Kemp and other supporters say they’re seeking to restore confidence in the election system to satisfy GOP voters who demanded changes in response to former President Donald Trump’s false claims about widespread voting fraud.
In the video, Abrams brings up earlier versions of the measure that were more restrictive:
“Let’s not forget that Republicans wanted to eliminate Sunday voting, but we stopped them. And Republicans wanted to eliminate no excuses absentee voting, but we stopped them. And Republicans wanted to eliminate automatic voter registration. But wait for it, we stopped them.”
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