Atlanta

Mobile voting units now parked because of Georgia’s new election law

ATLANTA — One of the provisions in Georgia’s newly signed election law has put the breaks on what many leaders saw as a creative way to decrease voter lines.

Fulton County purchased mobile voting units for $750,000 in the fall of 2020. County leaders say they were a good solution to long voting lines, especially when a polling site had a problem or emergency.

Under Georgia’s new voting law, they are considered illegal unless the governor declares a state of emergency.

Channel 2 Action News was there in October when Fulton County rushed one of the mobile units to its Wolf Creek early voting site when the power went out.

But now, according to the law, “buses and other readily movable facilities shall only be used in emergencies declared by the Governor.”

TRENDING STORIES:

“To come back and try to undo the good work we’ve done is simply not acceptable,” Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said.

The mobile units are just one change in the 95-page bill that became law.

In a virtual news conference Monday, Fair Fight Action CEO Lauren Groh Wargo said the law uses “precision voter suppression targeting.”

“It’s the difference between winning and losing close races and it is the difference between Republican and Democratic voters,” Groh Wargo said.

But Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who called a rare weekend news conference to fight back against the criticism, denies the law is partisan.

“I know in my heart what is in this bill. This bill is creating more accessibility and for us to continue to have better processes in the state that are secure, for every voter,” Kemp said.

Fair Fight did not call for any boycotts on Monday but did call for corporations to make their voices heard.