Posted on 03/15/2021 11:13:48 AM PDT by gattaca
A state lawmaker in Georgia has resigned from his role as county attorney after being pressured to quit over his support for an election integrity bill.
State Rep. Barry Fleming, a Republican, sponsored House Bill 531, which passed the House along party lines last week. The bill, which awaits Senate action, curbs the use of drop boxes, changes early voting hours, limits no-excuse absentee voting, and requires ID for absentee voting.
“House Bill 531 is designed to begin to bring back the confidence of our voters back into our election system. A main component of that effort is by enacting several revisions, which will make the administration of elections easier by our local elections officials,” Fleming said last week, according to WABE.
Some advocacy groups, claiming the bill amounts to voter suppression, called for protests against the measure.
“It would have devastating consequences for voting rights in Georgia, and it is absolutely unacceptable that legislators, voting rights advocates, and the people of Georgia have been blindsided by its release,” advocacy group Fair Fight wrote in a tweet.
Around 40 protesters took to the streets in front of the Hancock County courthouse in Sparta on Wednesday, calling for Fleming’s resignation.
“We have lots of protests at the capitol, but when we have protests in our local communities, that sends a message everywhere,” protest participant Jeanne Dufort told a local outlet. “Taxpayers are paying for the guy who’s trying to take their voting rights away.”
The protests prompted Hancock County commissioners to vote 4-0 to ask Fleming to resign. Fleming, who is currently chairman of the House Special Committee on Election Integrity, said that he stepped down after receiving the request.
“Hancock County is a great place. There’s a great board of commissioners there,” he told WXIA-TV. “I enjoyed working with them for, I think, nine years. I only wish them the best.”
Fleming said he did not object to his forced departure, although he said protesters “misunderstand” many of its controversial provisions, according to The Associated Press.
The state House speaker pro tem, Republican Jan Jones, told WABE that the changes to Georgia’s election laws were needed after the controversies of the 2020 election, which saw allegations of voter fraud.
“It’s time again because of the lessons we learned from the implementation of the new voting system and an unprecedented pandemic that revealed extreme stresses in our elections system, such as the need for greater transparency, uniformity, and confidence,” Jones told the outlet.
Fleming has been at the forefront of election integrity efforts, including backing a 2015 effort to purge voter rolls in Hancock County.
He did the right thing, but he got fired anyway.
he shouldn’t have resigned. he should have sent them a letter and made them fire him.
Did he ask fir voter id?
For inperson voting?
For genuine signature.verification?
NONE of that huets anyine’s rights.
Anything short of one citizen, one vote with photo ID is fraud and unacceptable.
If somebody disagrees then they are on the other side and not to be trusted.
IOW, they’ve struck theft and coveting from the Ten Commandments.
my brother lives in El paso... in the midst of the thousands coming across the border .. he hasn’t watched any news since the election and then losing Rush.. who was our voice..
and bro says he’s waiting on the people to wake up... and he thinks they will.
did the people in Hong Kong wake up before it was too late,?
Let’s not let it happen here.
We can’t lose our country.. how much has to happen before the people say enough!
Fleming should have told the woke Hancock County commissioners to take their request that he resign and shove it where the sun never shines.
I agree. Force them to “fire” him. Then sue the county for firing him.
“ Hancock County has arguably been the most consistent Democratic county in the entire nation since the Civil War. It has voted for the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since 1852 except that of 1972, when George McGovern lost every county in Georgia – and even then it was easily McGovern’s best county in the state and he lost by only 93 votes.”
Exactly....then sue their A$$eS off!
That’s blackmail of a lawyer and an illicit attempt to influence law.
The county chairman should be criminally charged immediately.
“LawMAKER” not “lawyer”
Since when can you fire an elected representative of the people?
The guy is a weakling. A crybaby. A disgrace to his family and friends.
He should have told them to stuff it.
What?????
So these people are quite supportive of Voter Fraud and Ballot Tampering/Manipulation. Good to know.
If you know anything about Hancock County, this is no surprise.
Drive through Sparta (at your own risk). This is not surprising.
Seeing a lot about this. They are right over target which is why the dems are panicking. Of course, you will have the usual cast of GOP characters who cannot wait to cave. But I hope that this gets through.
Honestly, I have no idea what Kemp will do.
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