Atlanta Mayor Works To Blunt Impact Of GA’s New Voting Restrictions Through Executive Order

Atlanta, Georgia Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an executive order on Tuesday evening that aims to “mitigate” the impact of state Republicans’ new law that makes it more difficult for people to vote.

The order directs Atlanta’s chief equity officer to come up with a plan to ensure city residents are informed of the law’s newly imposed requirements and deadlines for voting absentee.

Parts of the plan include training staff members at the Mayor’s Office of Constituent Services to communicate those requirements to residents, spreading information on how they can obtain the forms of ID they now need to vote absentee, and putting QR codes on water bills and other mailings that direct to sites containing information on registering to vote and voting absentee.

Bottoms noted in a statement on her order that the voting law “will disproportionately impact Atlanta residents—particularly in communities of color and other minority groups.”

“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,” she said.

The controversial law slaps a host of voting restrictions with new ID requirements for absentee voting, a shortened deadline for requesting mail-in ballots, limitations on ballot drop boxes, and other burdensome measures that hamper voting access.