Election Day restrictions in Georgia raise red flags

Georgia is again one of the most crucial states in the election season where just a couple thousand votes could determine the outcome of the presidential election.

But as millions of voters prepare to cast their ballot, grassroots groups, election experts and others are sounding the alarm on controversial changes to election laws in the last couple of years that they say will discourage Georgians from voting.

From reductions in absentee ballot boxes to limitations to casting an emergency ballot on Election Day, voters will have fewer options and will be in a bind if their schedules change at the last minute due to the 2021 passing of S.B. 202.

"There's been a lot of attention on some of the changes that S.B. 202 brought, like the one that didn't allow water to election lines, but there are other aspects that aren't really talked about where we are seeing a lot of concern for voters," Stephanie Jackson Ali, the policy director for The New Georgia Project, a nonprofit voting rights group, told ABC News.

Andrew Garber, the counsel in the democracy program for nonpartisan think tank The Brennan Center for Justice, told ABC News that Georgia's election law changes are among some of the harshest enacted since the 2020 election.

Garber noted that many of these restrictions were created with the intent of streamlining the election process, but ultimately added layers of red tape.

"It's less about saying someone can’t vote but it's about having the speed bumps that add up," he said.

Ali and other voter advocates in the state, however, say the Georgians are preparing to tackle these roadblocks head-on and hitting the streets, web and other places to educate and inform people of their options.

Voters thrown into a loop by S.B. 202

In 2021, Georgia's Republican-led state legislature passed S.B. 202 which made drastic changes to the state's election law.

Supporters said the bill was necessary to address a lack of confidence in Georgia's elections "on all sides of the political spectrum," and streamline the process.

Democrats and other opponents, however, argued that the law was based on disproven rumors of voter fraud and elections that were handled improperly.

Carol Anderson, the Robert W Woodroof Professor of African American studies at Emory University who has researched voter suppression in Georgia, told ABC News that the Republican officials who spearheaded the bill were inspired by false and disproven claims made by former President Donald Trump and his allies around the 2020 election.

"S. B. 202 took those lies and ran with it," she said.

Georgia's office of the Secretary of State did not immediately return requests for comment from ABC News.

The S.B. 202 regulations went into effect in the 2022 election, and voting rights groups say the results are a preview of the challenges that they will face in a couple of weeks.

Emergency ballot voting gets harder

Ali said one of the top issues raised by Georgians who called her organization's election hotline in the 2022 midterms revolved around new rules of provisional ballots.

In the past, voters who were not notified about changes to their polling place were allowed to cast a provisional ballot at the site they entered for federal and statewide races such as governor.

That situation was common in previous elections as redistricting, other last-minute changes, and limited resources by local election offices for communication left voters stranded, Ali said.

"It's especially confusing with polling places [that have] closed," she explained, noting that some areas in the state are still recovering from Hurricane Helene.

Under S.B. 22, voters at the wrong polling place on Election Day can only enter a provisional ballot at that site after 5 p.m.

For many Georgia voters, this option is not viable, according to Ali.

"I get a lot of people who call and say I wanted to vote during my lunch break and I work until 8," she said. "These are people who made their plan, they were trying to go out and make a vote on something that works for their schedule and then were told ‘Sorry you can't vote here.’"

Ali said that the rule is more confusing since Georgia voters who cast their ballot at early voting polling places can choose any polling location in their county.

For now, Ali and other advocates have been holding information sessions and raising awareness of the issue to the voters.

"We tell voters to check your polling site constantly. A lot of people don't know that their usual site has been changed," she said.

She also warned that there are other serious roadblocks for people looking to cast their ballot before Election Day.

Ballot boxes scaled back

Anderson said S.B. 202 created another change with regard to ballot drop-off boxes, which were first used in the state in the 2020 election when the pandemic created major health safety issues surrounding polling places.

In that election, the boxes would be located outdoors in dozens of spots throughout counties in Georgia, with more than 100 in the metro Atlanta area, she said.

"Over 50% of all ballots that came in 2020 that were absentee were done in drop boxes in the Atlanta metro area," Anderson said.

However, S.B. 202 permits only a maximum of one ballot box per 100,000 voters and limited the locations to indoor areas, most of which were election offices, during workday hours.

"It would be you could just walk up and put it in the box anytime you wanted," Anderson said. "Now you have to drive to the location, find parking, go inside, wait in line and hope it isn't long because you could miss work."

Fulton County, which includes Atlanta, has only eight ballot boxes available for its 751,000 registered voters, according to data from the county and the Georgia Secretary of State's office. It had 38 boxes available in 2020.

Anderson noted that the decrease in ballot boxes makes it harder for older Georgians, who typically vote via paper ballots in higher numbers.

Early voting promoted to avoid problems

Since the laws were enacted, voting rights activists, leaders and other groups have pushed Georgians to cast their vote during the early voting period, which began on Tuesday and lasts until Nov. 1.

S.B. 202 expanded early voting days by allowing one extra Saturday into the schedule.

Aside from easing up the polling lines on Nov. 5, election experts say it gives Georgia voters more time to navigate the system and clear up any confusion about their ballot.

Ali, whose organization has been informing voters about early voting options, noted that voters can go to any early voting place in their county to cast their ballot and not have to worry about the issues with a provisional ballot like they would on Election Day.

"Voters should definitely get to the polls early if they're worried about heading to the wrong place on Election Day," she said.

Anderson said voters who have an issue casting their ballot, such as not having the correct ID or having an issue with their paper ballot, have extra time to rectify their issue before Nov. 5. She added that organizations, including churches, have organized to get people to their poll sites, both during the early voting period and on Nov. 5.

"I think about all of the energy to overcome these barriers being used in other ways," she said. "But this is the right to vote, and we can't take it for granted."

Thousands of Georgia voters appear to be taking that route as the state set a record for the first day of early voting -- Chief Operations Officer Gabriel Sterling said more than 300,000 people cast ballots on Tuesday, a 123% increase over the 136,000 votes cast on the first day in 2020.

"For those that claimed Georgia election laws were Jim Crow 2.0 and those that say democracy is dying…the voters of Georgia would like to have a word," Sterling posted on X Tuesday evening.

Georgia represents growing trend of voter repressive laws

Georgia is not alone in making these changes, according to national voter rights groups.

Andrew Garber, the counsel in the democracy program for the nonpartisan think tank The Brennan Center for Justice, told ABC News that voters in 29 states will face 63 restrictive laws that were not in place for the last presidential election.

The majority of those laws focus on mail voting, which has risen steadily in use over the past several decades, by restricting who can apply for a mail ballot, adding more requirements such as ID to get approved for a ballot, and, similar to Georgia, limited the ways people can hand in their ballot, according to Garber.

"It's less about saying someone can’t vote but it's about having those speed bumps that add up," he said.

Garber said voters need to brush up on their local laws and restrictions now and plan around them.

Whether it's arranging for time off or seeking help in filling in and dropping off a paper ballot, voters can still get around any barrier and make their voice heard, he said.

"Today is the day to check you are still registered,” he said. “Today is the day to register for a mail ballot if you want it, today is the day to vote early in person, today is the day to plan for transportation and arrange your schedule to vote."