Atlanta Mayor Lance Bottoms Signs Executive Order Circumventing GA Election Laws

Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) Wednesday signed an executive order to “mitigate the impact” of Georgia’s new election integrity law, known as The Election Integrity Act of 2021.

The new election bill that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed into law “… seeks to tighten up elections and reduce fraud by enforcing conformity across the state, amping up voter ID, restricting drop boxes, and expanding in-person voting, among additional election-related overhauls,” The Daily Wire previously reported.

Although Georgia has received widespread criticism from a number of corporations, Kemp said he was moving forward with his decision to sign the bill into law.

“I want to be clear: I will not be backing down from this fight,” Kemp said during a Saturday press conference after the MLB decided to move the All-Star game from Georgia to Colorado. “We will not be intimidated, and we will also not be silenced.”

According to the Atlanta mayor, the bill will hit minorities in Atlanta the hardest.

“The voting restrictions of SB 202 will disproportionately impact Atlanta residents—particularly in communities of color and other minority groups,” Bottoms said in a statement. “This Administrative Order is designed to do what those in the majority of the state legislature did not—expand access to our right to vote.”

“… I am hereby directing the Chief Equity Officer to consult with the Department of Law and develop a plan of action to mitigate the impact on City of Atlanta residents of the voting restrictions imposed by Senate Bill 202,” the executive order states.

Lance Bottom’s executive order instructs the city’s non-emergency services department – ATL311 – to work with the mayor’s Office of Constituent Services to:

• Train staffers on voter registration related to early, absentee and in-person voting.
• Inform residents about how to obtain a valid form of identification for absentee voting.
• Place QR codes with links to voter registration and absentee voting information on official mailings, like water bills.
• Develop public service announcements that adequately articulate the new voting deadlines, timelines and requirements.

Democrats have repeatedly seized on the Georgia election integrity law, saying cracking down on voter fraud is somehow comparable to the Jim Crow era.

Beth Baumann is a Political Reporter at The Daily Wire. Follow her on Twitter @eb454.

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