Early in my career I spent nearly five years in the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, working for then Secretary of State Max Cleland.
The office has many roles and responsibilities, but I was interested in our work overseeing and certifying state elections. With more than 500 municipalities, 159 counties and a General Assembly of 236 lawmakers, not even counting Presidential or Gubernatorial contests—thousands of candidates and elections occur across the state every year.
Municipal contests occur in odd-numbered years, state and county elections in even-numbered years, and the Presidential contest every four years.
Though rare and most typical in close contests, in smaller and more rural locales I witnessed dead people voting; sometimes in alphabetic order, ’late’ precinct boxes, and my personal favorite ‘lost’ absentee ballots discovered AFTER Election Day.
Even in those days, election fraud tended to be small-scale, often a last gasp of a power structure about to be ousted.
Investigators within the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office frequently thwarted it with a bit of detective work. Then and now, the biggest opportunities for fraud involve paper ballots and those arriving by mail.
Georgia Took Early Lead in Expanding Access to Ballot
While in that office, we passed the Georgia Motor Voter Law, which allows automatic voter registration unless the license applicant opts out. Also a statute uniquely allowing college students to choose their legal residence for voting purposes, either their college town or back home, to increase registration and voting by younger voters.
Georgia Governors Sonny Perdue, Nathan Deal and Brian Kemp would give the state Voter I.D., No Excuse Absentee Voting, and three weeks of early (Advance Voting).
Republican legislatures also gave Election Superintendents the ability to begin tabulating those early and Absentee Ballots ON Election Day, instead of waiting until all polls are closed.
Those early votes are that first large block of votes reported between 8 and 9 p.m. on an Election Night.
By 2004, the Georgia GOP held the Governor’s office, both chambers of the General Assembly, a strong majority of the Congressional delegation and most Constitutional offices, including the Secretary of State’s Office.
Allegations of election fraud continued, though remaining few and far between, and most often surfacing in hard-fought contests where the result was decided by fraction of a percentage point.
But Then Different Results Changed the Attitude Toward Elections
And then we had the 2020 Presidential Election. The GOP again did well on Election Night, carrying pluralities in both U.S. Senate contests, most Constitutional offices, and solid majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.
However, a small, vocal faction of the current President’s supporters still believe that the Georgia Presidential contest was stolen, despite being unable to present anything resembling hard evidence.
While working on Election Night, I noted that the votes remaining out were primarily in the core metro Atlanta area, where nearly 2-million of that year’s 5-million ballots were cast.
President Donald Trump trailed Vice-President Joe Biden by margins of 70-30 in DeKalb County and the high 60s in Fulton, Cobb, Gwinnett, Clayton, Henry and Rockdale counties. And those larger county vote totals always take longer to tabulate and come in later on Election Nights.
It became apparent to me by 11 p.m. that Trump’s lead of a few hundred thousand votes would likely slip away by the morning. As unofficial results were tallied overnight, Joe Biden took the lead and maintained it, though the margin tightened as the final absentee and provisional ballots were counted.
Later, three recounts followed, and Biden was certified as the state’s presidential contest winner. And Biden would later receive Georgia’s 16 Electoral College votes as a result.
I will leave that contest there to say that after Joe Biden won and began to seek a second term, Congressional Democrats introduced HB 1, a bill titled something like the “Save Democracy Act.”
This bill would have made marked and significant changes to federal election law, including instant and same day registration on Election Day, which any Elections Official would tell you creates an Administrative nightmare.
Thankfully, that bill became little more than a campaign talking point, and died with the Biden Administration.
S.A.V.E. Act Would Save Nothing
Now, without a Presidential contest in sight, but with a midterm election threatening ill winds for the current administration, another ill-advised and poorly timed Election Law revision called the “S.A.V.E. Act“ comes forward.
Perhaps this saves a GOP majority by diluting ballot access, blocking voter registration or re-registration for millions and nearly ending the use of mail-in ballots in federal races, with exceptions only for overseas military and tightly interpreted special cases for long travel or extended illness.
A better named bill might be “Start the Steal.“ Among other things, and there are many, the only acceptable Voter I.D. (which again I support in concept and following Georgia’s legal standard) would not accept a Driver’s License, Military I.D., nor Voter I.D. or anything less than a U.S. Passport, or citizenship paperwork.
If marriage, divorce or legal name has been changed, a certified birth certificate, along with that Passport will be needed to prove that you are you.
Nearly half of the American people do not have a current U.S. Passport, and it is not only not free, but dependent on the use of expedited service, photo used, filing fees and costs can range from around $60, to well into the hundreds.
President Trump has been visibly and vocally holding off making a deal with Senate Democrats to restore TSA funding until AFTER the Senate has voted on the Save Act.
Those first procedural votes have occurred, but Republicans could not muster the 60 votes needed for Cloture (60), to end debate, block any filibuster and move the bill forward for Senate consideration. Part of the S.A.V.E. Act also practically eliminates mail-in ballots for federal contests.
Interestingly, the President and First Lady just voted by mail from the White House to Palm Beach County, in a closely watched Florida State House Special Election. The Republican candidate endorsed by Trump lost.
However it appears that any upcoming votes in the U.S. Senate may save Mail In Voting and No Excuse Absentee voting after all.
Restricting ballot access or rolling back the clock is bad for the Republic, bad for Democracy and like those old school Boss Hogg politicos stealing Georgia elections back in the 1980s...just the sign of a fading and failing power structure trying desperately to cling to power.
The S.A.V.E. Act is not worth saving. And the same is true of another bill in the Georgia State Senate attempting major changes to the use of Absentee Ballots and a switch back to hand-marked paper ballots on Election Day, but that’s another column and another bad idea for another day.