Blunt Sets the Record Straight on Georgia’s Election Law

WASHINGTON - At the Republican leadership press conference today, U.S. Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), the top Republican on the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, discussed the record levels of early voter turnout in Georgia and set the record straight on the state's Election Integrity Act.

As Blunt noted, the bill expanded the number of required early voting days in Georgia, mandated ballot drop boxes in every county, and maintained no-excuse absentee voting. Blunt also discussed Democrats' push to break the Senate in 2021 in a failed attempt to enact a partisan, federal takeover of elections.

Following is a Transcript:

"Let me add just a little more to the Georgia election law. As the leader said, Democrats took the Senate right to the edge on this. Basically were willing to federalize the national election process to take the FEC, we're going to vote on an FEC commissioner today, the equally divided FEC and turn it into a four-to-two FEC.

"There's a reason there are three Democrats and three Republicans on the FEC. I'm a Republican, but I'm voting for the Democrat today, because there should be three Democrats on the FEC, just like there should be three Republicans, but that was part of the law they took. But part of the reason was the 'suppression laws' that suddenly they decided were out there.

"The Georgia law expanded the number of mandatory early voting days. It codified drop boxes in every county, something that didn't exist at all before the pandemic. It aligned mail-in deadlines, with the postal recommendations to be sure the ballots actually got counted that were mailed in. It maintained no-excuse absentee voting, which neither Delaware or New York has. Two big critics of the law were the president and the majority leader, neither of their states have no-excuse absentee voting.

"By Friday of last week, that was the last day of early voting, 800,000 Georgians cast early ballots. Four years ago, 300,000 Georgians cast early ballots, and in the presidential, 326,000 Georgians voted in the presidential. Substantially more than two times as many people voted under the so-called 'suppression law' as had ever voted early in Georgia before.

"Remember, this a law that not only took the Senate to the brink over 'voter suppression,' it was the law that moved the All-Star game out of Atlanta because of legislative suppression that has, turned out, producing more early voting by far than any other time in the state's history. The goal was to make it easier to vote, which they obviously have done, and harder to cheat, which they hopefully did."

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