"It's atrocious", "Sad day for Georgia".
Joe Biden crushed, Friday, March 26, the adoption in Georgia of an electoral law presented by the Republicans to make the elections more "secure".
According to the Democratic president, it tramples on "American values" by limiting access to the ballot boxes and particularly targeting African-American voters.
In this southern state still bearing the wounds of segregation, a record mobilization, led by black voters, allowed Joe Biden to win the state in November 2020. A first for a Democratic candidate for the White House in nearly three decades.
In January, the Democrats transformed the essay with the surprise victories of their candidates, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, against the two outgoing Republican senators.
Two seats that allowed their party to regain control of the Senate.
For Donald Trump, who has never explicitly conceded his defeat, the Democratic victories in Georgia well symbolize the "frauds" which, according to him, marred the November 3 ballot.
Despite his numerous lawsuits, they have never been demonstrated.
But across the United States, Republican officials are now citing the "lack of confidence" in the electoral system to justify some 250 bills that could limit access to the vote in more than 40 out of 50 states. Republican Governor of Georgia, Brian Kemp, promulgated one of these texts, saying he was "proud" to be able to ensure that the next elections in Georgia would be "safe, fair and accessible".
"Congratulations to Georgia," Donald Trump reacted in a statement on Friday.
"They learned the lessons of this presidential election masquerade in 2020", he added, concluding: "Too bad these changes did not come sooner!"
"It's atrocious"
"Sad day for Georgia", a reminder of its "dark past" ??
: the text has on the contrary caused an uproar among the Democrats.
With the more powerful megaphone the American president.
"It's excruciating," Joe Biden said on Friday to reporters.
"They approved a law saying that we are not allowed to give water to people waiting to vote," he denounced.
"You don't have to know more to understand that these are punitive practices to prevent people from voting."
During the presidential election in November, voters sometimes waited long hours to be able to vote during the days open to early voting.
Volunteers had then passed by to distribute food in the still muggy heat of Georgia in the fall.
However, the new law effectively prohibits giving "food and drink to a voter".
Election officials will nevertheless be able to "give access to a fountain".
This text "goes against American values in order to deprive voters of their right to vote," hammered the 46th President of the United States in a statement.
"We have a moral, and constitutional, obligation to act."
Strict supervision of postal voting
With the pandemic, the possibilities to vote in advance and by mail had been widened, "with a spectacular increase in the ballots sent by mail", affirms the text of law.
These polls created a "significant lack of confidence in the electoral system" in Georgia, he continues.
The republican law restricts the number of ballot boxes installed in the street to deposit the ballots ("drop box") and their opening hours, reinforces the controls on the identity of the voters voting by mail, and limits the time authorized to request his proxy ballots.
"This law undermines our democracy and the political power of black voters," responded the powerful civil rights association ACLU.
As of Thursday, several organizations working to mobilize voters in Georgia filed a complaint against the new legislation.
In Washington, Democrats promise to do everything they can to pass a sweeping bill that would strengthen the right to vote across the United States.
Already adopted in the House, the text will be put to a vote in the Senate, promised its Democratic leader Chuck Schumer.
But its majority is far too narrow for it to be adopted as it is, unless there is an explosive reform of the rules of the upper house.
Despite this reality, Joe Biden urged Congress on Friday to pass the law, concluding: "Let the people vote."
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