亚特兰大——格鲁吉亚新共和党支持的批评家选举法律周一发出新的呼吁，抵制该州一些最大的企业，因为它们没有更有力地反对这项法律。一天前，倡导组织在联邦法院提起诉讼，对这项法律提出质疑。
在给9万多名教区居民的一封信中，主持佐治亚州400多个非洲卫理公会教堂的雷金纳德·杰克逊主教说，这项法律是“种族主义的，试图让我们回到吉姆·克劳的时代。”
杰克逊呼吁可口可乐和达美航空等公司的企业领导人公开表示反对。
“如果我们不能说服他们，或者如果他们拒绝反对这项立法，那么我们将组织和实施对他们公司的抵制，”信中说。
可口可乐在一份声明中表示，该公司一直在“倡导投票立法的积极变化。”
达美航空公司发表声明，吹捧该法律的一些部分，如扩大周末投票，但表示“我们理解对立法中其他条款的关切仍然存在，在这一重要努力中仍有工作要做。”
在另一封信中，美国一些最著名的民权领袖的子女表示，“我们太多的立法者未能表明立场，企业也没有走得足够远，以确保每个有投票权的公民都能公平、公正地获得最基本的美国权利。”这封信是小马丁·路德·金牧师的女儿伯尼斯·金写的;艾尔·维维安，牧师C.T .维维安的儿子;和美国众议员约翰·刘易斯的儿子约翰·迈尔斯·刘易斯。
包括佐治亚州全国有色人种协进会在内的组织周日对国务卿布拉德·拉芬伯格(Brad Raffensperger)和州选举委员会其他成员提起诉讼，要求法官认定该法律违反了美国宪法和《投票权法案》，并阻止州官员执行该法律。
诉状称，共和党“官员们试图压制黑人选民和其他有色人种选民的投票，以维持共和党在格鲁吉亚的脆弱地位。”
佐治亚州选举法的修改是在民主党赢得总统竞选和美国参议院在这个曾经可靠的红色州的两次决胜选举之后做出的。
该投诉由格鲁吉亚全国有色人种协进会、格鲁吉亚人民议程联盟、格鲁吉亚女选民联盟、GALEO拉美裔社区发展基金、共同事业和下马斯科吉克里克部落提出。
新选举法于周四由共和党州长布赖恩·坎普签署，几小时前刚刚获得州立法机构的批准。这是前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)对选举欺诈提出虚假指控后，全国各州推出的共和党支持的选举法案浪潮的一部分。
佐治亚州法律增加了邮寄缺席投票的照片身份证要求，减少了人们要求缺席投票的时间，并限制了投递箱的放置位置和访问时间。它还禁止人们向排队的选民分发食物或水，并允许共和党控制的州选举委员会撤换县选举官员。
佐治亚州的共和党人认为，需要这项法律来恢复选民的信心。
坎普在最近的一条推特上说:“我签署成为法律的格鲁吉亚选举诚信法案扩大了提前投票，并确保了我们的邮件投票系统，以保护我们选举的诚信。”"桃州在让投票变得容易、作弊变得困难方面领先全国。"
在周一的一次采访中，拉芬伯格说他支持一些改革，但反对法律的其他方面。
拉芬伯格说，要求邮寄选票时出示照片身份证“是一种更好的方式，因为这是一种客观的衡量标准，而不是主观的衡量标准。”但他说，他不支持解除他的州选举委员会主席职务，并由州立法机构任命的人取而代之的条款。
新佐治亚项目、黑人选民事务和崛起公司周四提起的另一项诉讼试图以类似的理由阻止这项法律。
麦肯民主党参议员大卫·卢卡斯说，共和党人不应该对已经提起的两起诉讼感到惊讶。
“你做到了，你投了票，现在你必须接受它，”卢卡斯说。“我们将在法院度过整整一年。”
同样在周一，一名在周四抗议该法律后被捕的民主党议员回到了州议会大厦。亚特兰大众议员帕克·坎农(Park Cannon)被逮捕，并被控犯有两项重罪，因为她在坎普直播他刚刚签署的投票法案时，敲了敲坎普的办公室门。
在坎农和马丁·路德·金三世一起在国会大厦周围游行后，举起拳头的支持者组成了一条通道，让坎农穿过去众议院。坎农走进会议厅时，没有回答记者的问题。
与此同时，共和党人表示，坎农是在哗众取宠。共和党参议员兰迪·罗伯逊说，卡农无视警告，立法者需要站在守卫国会大厦的警察和州警身后。
Georgia's new GOP election law draws criticism, lawsuits
ATLANTA -- Critics of Georgia's new Republican-backedelectionlaw issued fresh calls Monday to boycott some of the state’s largest businesses for not speaking out more forcefully against the law, a day after advocacy organizations filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging it.
In a letter to more than 90,000 parishioners, Bishop Reginald Jackson, who presides over more than 400 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia, said the law is “racist and seeks to return us to the days of Jim Crow.”
Jackson is calling for corporate leaders at companies like Coca-Cola and Delta Air Lines to speak out in opposition.
“If we cannot persuade them or if they refuse to oppose this legislation then we will organize and implement a boycott of their companies,” the letter says.
Coca-Cola said in a statement that the company has been engaged in “advocating for positive change in voting legislation.”
Delta Air Lines issued a statement touting some parts of the law, such as expanded weekend voting, but said “we understand concerns remain over other provisions in the legislation and there continues to be work ahead in this important effort.”
In a separate letter, the children of some of the nation’s most notable civil rights leaders said that far "too many of our lawmakers failed to take a stand and corporations did not go far enough to ensure every voting citizen had fair and equitable access to the most basic of American rights." The letter was written by Bernice A. King, the daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.; Al Vivian, the son of the Rev. C.T. Vivian; and John-Miles Lewis, the son of U.S. Rep. John Lewis.
A lawsuit filed Sunday by organizations including the Georgia NAACP, against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other members of the State Election Board, asks a judge to find that the law violates the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act and to block state officials from enforcing it.
The complaint argues that Republican “officials have resorted to attempting to suppress the vote of Black voters and other voters of color in order to maintain the tenuous hold that the Republican Party has in Georgia.”
The change to Georgia’s election law was made after Democrats won the presidential contest and two U.S. Senate runoffs in the once reliably red state.
The complaint was filed by the Georgia NAACP, Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, League of Women Voters of Georgia, GALEO Latino Community Development Fund, Common Cause and the Lower Muskogee Creek Tribe.
The new election law was signed Thursday by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, just hours after it cleared the state legislature. It is part of a tide of GOP-sponsored election bills introduced in states across the country after former President Donald Trump made false claims about election fraud.
The Georgia law adds a photo ID requirement for voting absentee by mail, cuts the amount of time people have to request an absentee ballot and limits where drop boxes can be placed and when they can be accessed. It also bans people from handing out food or water to voters waiting in line and allows the Republican-controlled State Election Board to remove and replace county election officials.
Republicans in Georgia argue that the law is needed to restore voters’ confidence.
“Georgia’s Election Integrity Act that I signed into law expands early voting and secures our vote-by-mail system to protect the integrity of our elections,” Kemp said in a recent tweet. “The Peach State is leading the nation in making it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
In an interview Monday, Raffensperger said he supported some of the changes but is against other aspects of the law.
Raffensperger said that requiring a photo ID for mail in ballots “is a much superior way of going, because it's an objective measure and not a subjective measure." But he said he does not support provisions that remove him as the chair of the State Election Board and replaces him with an appointee of the state legislature.
A separate lawsuit filed Thursday by the New Georgia Project, Black Voters Matter and Rise Inc. seeks to block the law on similar grounds.
Sen. David Lucas, a Macon Democrat, said Republicans shouldn’t be surprised that two lawsuits have already been filed.
“You did it, you voted for it, and now you’ve got to live with it," Lucas said. "We’re going to spend the whole next year in the courthouse.”
Also Monday, a Democratic lawmaker who was arrested after protesting the law Thursday returned to the state Capitol. Rep. Park Cannon, of Atlanta, was arrested and charged with two felonies after she knocked on the door to Kemp’s office while he was on live television speaking about the voting bill he had just signed.
After Cannon walked with Martin Luther King III in a march around the Capitol, supporters with raised fists formed an aisle for Cannon to walk through to the House chamber. Cannon didn’t respond to questions from reporters as she walked into the chamber.
Republicans, meanwhile, said Cannon was grandstanding. Republican Sen. Randy Robertson said Cannon had ignored warnings and lawmakers needed to stand behind the police and state troopers who guard the Capitol.
