As the fight over voter integrity continues, a Georgia state lawmaker proposed a measure that would ramp up voter identification and verification. Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R) said that state identification cards could be offered free-of-charge to legal residents, after the legislature passed a bill that mandates identification verification for absentee voting.
#BREAKING: House @SpeakerRalston announces a proposal to make Georgia ID cards free to residents. He says he is committed to eliminating barriers to voting. Earlier this week the House approved a bill that would require state or alternate ID to vote absentee @FOX5Atlanta #gapol pic.twitter.com/xoikONI0P5
— Claire Simms (@Claire_FOX5) March 3, 2021
Ralston said that the idea behind the proposed measure is to “eliminate barriers” to voting while still ensuring voter integrity.
“I am committed to eliminating barriers to voting for all legally eligible Georgians,” he said on Wednesday. “We have heard from Georgians who are concerned about fees associated with obtaining a voter identification. While Georgia already offers a free voter ID, this State ID card is more useful and will make it easier for Georgians to not only vote, but use the ID to open a checking account or show identification to a TSA agent at an airport. Ultimately, we want to make getting a government-issued photo ID as easy as possible and removing this fee is one more way to demonstrate our commitment that everyone has the tools necessary to vote in Georgia.”
Still, the voting rights group led by failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D), opposes the common-sense measure. The group called the measure “an excuse” to advance Republicans’ “voter suppression bills.”
Speaker Ralston's proposal would cost nearly a million dollars. All he has proposed to pay for that is a paltry $250,000 - and that would not even pay for the program, only a for a PR campaign. #gapolhttps://t.co/IkMhgmZw0e
— Fair Fight (@fairfightaction) March 3, 2021
Governor Brian Kemp (R-GA) is also committed to making it “easy to vote and hard to cheat” in his state.