Garland’s comments are just the latest evidence that the effects of the November presidential election are continuing. Former President Donald Trump has claimed for months that Joe Biden won over widespread fraud.
Numerous recounts, tests, investigations and legal proceedings have not proven these claims. But they inspired the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and numerous laws followed that imposed stricter voting rules in Republican-controlled states.
Georgia’s law would, among other things, impose new identification requirements for postal ballot papers, restrict the use of ballot boxes, and allow the state electoral board to take control of non-standard local polling stations.
Critics have compared Georgia’s new electoral law, Senate Bill 202, to the Jim Crow laws, which made it difficult for black citizens to vote almost a century after the Civil War. Proponents of SB 202 say it is non-discriminatory. They say comparisons to Jim Crow are offensive and intended to motivate Democratic voters in future elections.
State officials have also defended the law in court. In a recent lawsuit, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said the law “added opportunities for voting and introduced meaningful and necessary reforms to ensure that plaintiffs’ interests are praised as well – a” safe “election with” Integrity “and continue to turn out high quality.”
On Friday, Garland said the Justice Department would conduct its own review to see if state laws illegally discriminate against black and brown voters. He said the department will also look into differential treatment of minorities – such as claims that minority voters wait in longer lines than white voters, a recent Georgia investigation found.
The state’s new law deals with long lines and requires local officials to monitor waiting times in the district. If the waiting time in parliamentary elections is more than an hour, they must reduce the number of voters assigned to that constituency to no more than 2,000.
Garland said the ministry will also review post-election exams to make sure they’re compliant with federal law. Georgia Republicans are calling for such a review, which could be brought before the Fulton County Superior Court.
The attorney general also promised to investigate threats made against election officials who he said “undermine our electoral process and violate a variety of federal laws.”
On Friday, Reuters reported that Tricia Raffensperger, the wife of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, received text messages in April saying “You and your family are being killed very slowly”. The report also cited ongoing threats against officials in Fulton County and other Georgia counties.
