Georgia Governor Brian Kemp Signs Bombshell New Election Integrity Bill, Mandates That Absentee Ballots Be Counted By 8 PM On Election Night

On Tuesday, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) signed Senate Bill 189, a new piece of legislation that tightens election integrity measures in the Peach State. Even more notably, the bill mandates that 8:00 P.M. is the official deadline for counting absentee ballots, a big change given the controversial nature of the counting process in the 2020 election. 

The bill sets clear guidelines for the election process, mandating that counting be finished 'by the Monday prior to the day of the primary, election, or runoff' and that the tabulating be finished by 'no later than 8:00 P.M. on the day of such primary, election, or runoff or within one hour of the closing of all polls in such county, whichever occurs later.' These rules are designed to ensure that our elections are conducted in a trustworthy and professional manner, reflecting the high standards of a state in the most powerful nation in the world. Ultimately, the aim is to meet the American people's demand for elections they can trust. 

The bill also includes a number of other measures designed to protect the integrity of our elections, including the cleaning up of voter rolls. As the Associated Press previously reported, the bill lists "death, evidence of voting or registering in another jurisdiction, a tax exemption indicating a primary residence elsewhere, or a nonresidential address as probable causes for removing voters from the rolls. Most controversially, it says the National Change of Address list can be considered, though not exclusively."

The 2020 election in Georgia was incredibly contentious, with 45th President Donald J. Trump questioning the results in the Peach State. Indeed, the fight for election integrity in Georgia is still in the news, with Donald Trump's legal battle for the integrity of the 2020 Georgia elections being the chief reason Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) indicted the presumptive Republican nominee.  In fact, Trump listed concerns about election integrity as one of the reasons he was willing to submit to the indictment in a viral Truth Social post in August of last year, with the presumptive Republican nominee saying, "NOBODY HAS EVER FOUGHT FOR ELECTION INTEGRITY LIKE PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP. FOR DOING SO, I WILL PROUDLY BE ARRESTED... GOD BLESS THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA"

The AP adds that on Tuesday, Governor Brian Kemp vetoed a separate bill that would ban political contributions by foreign nations and restrict the political activities of foreign principals. The Georgia governor argued that federal law had already placed the necessary restrictions on these actors.