Calls to boycott Georgia’s businesses over a new law that tightens voting regulations is “absolutely ridiculous,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Tuesday as calls to block business giants like Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola grew after the law was passed and they refused to condemn it.
Kemp, a Republican, made his comment on Twitter while retweeting a link from an interview on Fox News Monday night, where he said it is wrong to punish hard-working Georgians who are trying to hold jobs as the pandemic continues.
“It’s wrong for people — especially a lot of these activists from out of state that are benefitting financially from pushing this narrative,” he said. “To punish hard-working Georgians, great institutions like the Masters and Major League Baseball that by the way employ a lot of hard-working Georgians, that are trying to fight through this pandemic.”
Kemp also defended the bill, which has come under fire from opponents who say it discriminates against poor people and people of color.
“It’s very simple,” said Kemp. “It makes it easy to vote and hard to cheat.”
The legislation replaces a signature match requirement with one requiring a voter ID, “which is free in Georgia,” said Kemp. It also secures ballot drop boxes “in a better way than was done in the last election,” and requires that poll workers keep counting or tabulating ballots until all votes are counted.
The bill also expands access for the state’s early voting period, particularly on weekends, said Kemp.
He also said people who complain the bill is a racist move should “honestly read the facts” behind the bill and what it does.
“The other side, they don’t care what is in the bill,” said Kemp. “This narrative has been thought out long before they even knew what was going to be in the final version. And if you look at the debate that’s happened over the last several weeks, you know, their narrative has changed of what they were against and what they are now against.”
Three lawsuits have already been filed against the law less than a week after it was signed, with the latest being filed on Tuesday in an Atlanta federal court, where the case accuses the state of race-based discrimination, reports The Hill.
Delta has been under attack since last Friday, when CEO Ed Bastian defended the new voting law, saying that the legislation “improved considerably during the legislative process, and expands weekend voting, codifies Sunday voting, and protects a voter’s ability to cast an absentee ballot without providing a reason.”
He added, however, that Delta understands “concerns remain over other provisions in the legislation, and there continues to be work ahead in this important effort.”
Source: Newmax
