GOP groups throw support behind Georgia, Iowa election reform laws amid Dem lawsuits
Democrats are suing over Georgia's Senate Bill 202 and Iowa's SF 413 election integrity laws
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two national Republican groups have intervened in state-level lawsuits that Democrats have brought against new election integrity laws in Georgia and Iowa.
The Republican National Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee have stepped in to defend new GOP-backed laws in both states, which Democrats have painted as voter suppression and racist.
"The Democrats have grossly mischaracterized the provisions and impact of Georgia’s and Iowa’s recent election reforms," RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and NRSC Chairman Senator Rick Scott said in a joint statement announcing the interventions. "Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, many in the mainstream media have bought the Democrat narrative hook, line, and sinker in these dishonest attacks. But we are confident the courts will see through this partisan rhetoric and uphold both of the laws that reasonably balance access and integrity."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Voters wearing protective masks cast ballots at a polling location for the 2020 Presidential election in Ankeny, Iowa, U.S., on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (Rachel Mummey/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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They called Democrats’ lawsuit over Georgia Senate Bill 202 a "public relations stunt" and the challenge to Iowa SF 413 "baseless."
The Georgia election reform bill expands the number of early voting days, allows the observation of ballot counting, prohibits ballot harvesting and continues to allow voters to cast absentee ballots without an excuse, but requires proof of identification, among other measures.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A number of Hollywood stars have said they planned to boycott working in the state, an industry hotspot, in protest of the new law.
But Gov. Brian Kemp wrote in a Fox News op-ed Wednesday that Democrats have falsely characterized the bill he signed.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"These reforms have nothing to do with ‘voter suppression’ or ‘Jim Crow,’" he argued. "The Election Integrity Act makes it easy to vote by expanding access to the polls and harder to cheat by ensuring the security of the ballot box."
In Iowa, SF 413 aims to establish uniform voting protocols across the state’s 99 counties, hold local officials accountable for flouting state rules, allows tabulation to begin before Election Day and regulates absentee ballot drop boxes.
The lawsuit there comes as GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who is the certified winner of her election race by a razor-thin six votes, is battling House Democrats for the right to keep her seat.
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They are claiming that 22 ballots were improperly left out of the count and would have swung the election toward Democratic candidate Rita Hart.
Miller-Meeks win was certified by state officials after a recount, but the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives may have final say.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Democrats are crusading to put Washington in charge of elections, even if it means cancelling out the voters’ voices in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District in the name of partisan gains," McDaniel and Scott said. "We know the American people are with us."
Fox News’ Cameron Cawthorne and Maris Schultz contributed to this report.