Georgia residents report smooth election after ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ attacks
Cami Mondeaux
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A majority of black voters in Georgia said they had a positive experience voting in the midterm elections, with 0% of the voting demographic reporting having a hard time casting ballots, according to a new poll.
Roughly 73% of black voters reported having an “excellent experience” voting in the 2022 midterm elections in the Peach state, which is virtually equal to the percentage of white voters who said the same, according to a recent poll by the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. About 94% of black voters said they were confident their votes were counted, surpassing the number of white voters who said the same, 88%.
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The high rates of confidence come despite initial concerns that Georgia’s most recent election laws, coined as “Jim Crow 2.0” by opponents, would be used to suppress black voters by making it harder for the demographic to cast ballots on Election Day.
Georgia passed the new law in August 2021, implementing a number of restrictions in response to concerns about voter fraud in the 2020 election that resulted in several narrow Democratic wins in the state. The 98-page bill includes a number of provisions, such as limits on absentee voting and a reduced number of ballot drop boxes.
The new voting bill prompted outcry from national Democrats, including President Joe Biden, who accused Georgia Republicans of making it harder to vote for minority demographics. GOP lawmakers pushed back on those assumptions, arguing the law sought to make elections in the Peach State more secure.
The passage of Georgia’s voter bill, also known as S.B. 202, elicited mixed feelings from voters during the midterm elections, with a majority (77%) reporting it made no difference in how they cast their ballot, according to the UGA poll. Only 5.8% said it made it harder to vote, with another 15% saying it was easier.
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Roughly 42% said the new voting bill either “greatly” or “somewhat” increased their confidence in the state’s election system compared to 24.6% who said the opposite, the poll showed. Another 33.2% said they were unsure.
The poll surveyed 1,253 registered voters in Georgia who voted in the 2022 elections. The poll was conducted between Nov. 13 and Dec. 6 and has a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.