Keystone Today

Georgia’s newest election-related law is gaining attention for a variety of reasons, including the voter identification requirement, which is similar to a Pennsylvania law that requires first-time voters to show identification.

Pennsylvania’s law is slightly different, because it has both a signature-matching system and a requirement that first-time voters produce valid identification at polling places, according to Ballotpedia.

Georgia's Senate Bill 202 will allow for three weeks of early voting, Sunday voting, two Saturdays of voting and no-excuse absentee voting. But it also requires that voters show voter ID, and those who are waiting in line will not be allowed to accept items like food or drink from individuals not in line. 

The switch from signature matching to requiring identification is a response to more than 2,000 ballots rejected in 2018 because of signature issues in 2018; the food and drink restriction aims to deter activist electioneering, according to the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.

According to Heritage Action, Georgia’s new election law SB 202 will require a driver’s license or a state ID, which 97% of registered Georgia voters have or can easily obtain. According to a January 2021 AJC poll, 74% of Georgia voters support the ID requirement, including 63% of black voters and 89% of those earning under $25,000 per year.

Pennsylvania does not allow automatic voter registration, or same-day voter registration. To vote in the commonwealth, an individual must have lived in the district where they are registered for at least a month prior to the election. A variety of government-issued identification pieces or other identifications qualify for voter ID at registration.

In Pennsylvania, 81% of voters surveyed by a Franklin and Marshall College Poll favor signature matching for mail-in ballots, in addition to photo identification requirements (74%).  An online voter registration system is also available that the state put in place in August 2015, and individuals aged 18 on the day of the election may also register by mail or in person at county voter registration offices or some state agencies, like the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, according to Ballotpedia. 

Pennsylvania does not require proof of citizenship in order to register to vote.

After Georgia passed its elections bill, on March 26, President Joe Biden called it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century,” according to CNN. He also called on Congress to pass voter rights legislation to counter the restrictions being pushed through at the state level.

"This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end," Biden said in the statement, noting how the restrictions disproportionately target Black voters, who proved crucial to recent Democratic victories in Georgia.

He told reporters in Delaware that the White House is working on protecting voter rights.

“We don’t know quite exactly what we can do at this point. The Justice Department is taking a look as well,” said Biden.

Georgia’s Republicans are pushing back against the president’s criticism.

“There is nothing ‘Jim Crow’ about requiring a photo or state-issued ID to vote by absentee ballot- every Georgia voter must already do so when voting in person,” Gov. Brian Kemp said the day after the bill was signed into law as well.