ATLANTA — Georgia Democrats are criticizing the decision to hold a Senate subcommittee hearing on four controversial voting bills early Wednesday morning -- and without live-streaming.
One of those bills would eliminate no-excuse absentee voting.
Channel 2′s Richard Elliot was at the Capitol where all four of the controversial bills passed out of those two Senate subcommittee hearings.
The hearing started at 7 a.m., and at times got testy between the Republicans who are sponsoring the bills and the Democrats who oppose them.
One bill would do away with no-excuse absentee voting. Another would require an I.D. when applying for an absentee ballot.
RELATED STORIES:
- Fulton election board votes to fire its election director but unclear if it has authority to do so
- More than 20 bills currently in General Assembly could impact the way you vote in the next election
- Democrats make federal election standards a top priority
Republicans defended the hearing, saying the time wasn’t unusual. Democrats said it was an attempt the sneak the bills through.
“It was a subcommittee hearing. It’s the policy of the caucus not to live-stream subcommittees. We will certainly live-stream committee meetings,” said Republican Rep. Max Burns.
“We don’t care if they do them in the early morning or in the dark of the night. We’re going to tell Georgians what they’re doing up here is wrong and what they’re doing is suppressive,” said Democrat Rep. Emanuel Jones.
The full Senate ethics committee is scheduled to meet Thursday at 8 a.m. and could take up that no-excuse absentee voting bill. The chair said it will be livestreamed.
Cox Media Group
