House Takes up Ominbus Elections Bill
At 12:45 PM today, the House will take up House Bill 531, the omnibus elections reform measure.
You can watch the debate from the floor by clicking here: https://livestream.com/accounts/25225474/events/8824297
Debate has been limited by the Rules Committee to two hours. Each side will then be given time for the Chairman and the author of the minority report to make closing arguments.
I’ll go out on a limb and predict a party line vote.
UPDATE: Bill passed 97-72
I find it interesting that the bill apparently includes creating instant-runoff voting for military and overseas voters. There have been calls for shaking up Georgia’s unique runoff system, and maybe going with something like IRV for years. Strange to see that finally moving forward now, and strange to see a “two-track” model where it only applies to overseas ballots. I wonder if this will also last for generations… or if it’s just the camel’s nose in the tent, and we’ll see universal IRV soon?
There are a bi-partisan group of Legislators who support ranked choice voting. They dropped a bill earlier in the session,
The politics around HB 531 meant no Dems would support it, but I’m certainly excited about that portion of the bill.
I would love to see IRV/RCV implemented in all elections.
But when you say “the politics…meant no Dem would support it,” you mean because the bill is objectively bad, right?
Remember that every elections official that testified to the committee pushed back against limiting hours and limiting drop box accessibility. Remember that Rep. Powell stated, during committee testimony, there was no widespread fraud.
Uniformity is a silly goal. Uniformity could mean there’s one voting location for the whole state, and it’s in Buzz’s living room. Equity and access to the franchise is the correct goal, and you get there by making it easier to vote, securely, not harder. I do not look forward to Girl Scouts being arrested for handing out water bottles to people waiting in line, which this bill criminalizes.