Powell is the current representative of Georgia House District 33,which consists of Hart,Franklin and part of Madison counties. He has served on a number of committees in Georgia's House,including as Chairman of the Motor Vehicles and Public Safety Committee. Governor Nathan Deal also appointed him to serve on the Board of Homeland Security in 2018.[3]
He has been a strong advocate of the Second Amendment,pro-life policies,and elderly/rural healthcare.[citation needed] He has been recognized by numerous organizations as Legislator of the Year and has received awards from the Emory Center for Injury Prevention,the NRA Institute for Legislative Action[4] and the National FFA Organization,[citation needed] among others. He received an Associate Life Membership from the Peace Officers Association of Georgia and is a Distinguished Member of GeorgiaCarry.[citation needed]
Among other legislation,Powell supported the Election Integrity Act of 2021.[5] Some of the provisions contained in the act included restrictions on where ballot drop boxes could be located and when they could be accessed,requiring photo identification for absentee voting,shifting back the deadline to request an absentee ballot,limited early voting hours,and preventing anyone other than poll workers from giving food and water to voters standing in lines.[5][6] It also restricted early voting on Sundays,which critics claimed was "voter suppression".[5][7][8] Powell defended the bill,saying "Show me the suppression. There is no suppression in this bill."[5] The legislation was passed along party lines by the Georgia House in a vote of 100–75,and by the Senate in a vote of 34–20,on March 25,2021. Axios later stated that "99% of Georgia voters in the 2022 election reported no trouble casting their ballots."[9]
Powell was re-elected to a seventeenth two-year term in Georgia's House during the 2024 elections,having run unopposed and garnering over 29,000 votes.[10]
Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system.
Electoral reform in Texas refers to efforts to change the voting and election laws in the State of Texas.
Brian Porter Kemp is an American politician serving since 2019 as the 83rd governor of Georgia. A member of the Republican Party, Kemp served as the state's 27th Secretary of State from 2010 to 2018, and as a member of the Georgia State Senate from 2003 to 2007. He is the first Republican since Reconstruction to be elected governor of Georgia who was not formerly a Democrat.
Douglas Bryan Hughes is an American attorney and politician who is a Republican member of the Texas State Senate for District 1. He was first elected to the Texas Senate in November 2016. Previously, Hughes was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 2003 through January 2017 as state representative for District 5, which includes Camp, Harrison, Upshur, and Wood counties in northeastern Texas. Senator Hughes authored some of the more significant legislation to come out of the 87th Session of the Texas Legislature. His bills on abortion, voting reform, and social media censorship prompted significant debate but were passed by both houses of the legislature and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott.
Voter suppression in the United States consists of various legal and illegal efforts to prevent eligible citizens from exercising their right to vote. Such voter suppression efforts vary by state, local government, precinct, and election. Voter suppression has historically been used for racial, economic, gender, age and disability discrimination. After the American Civil War, all African-American men were granted voting rights, but poll taxes or language tests were used to limit and suppress the ability to register or cast a ballot. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 improved voting access. Since the beginning of voter suppression efforts, proponents of these laws have cited concerns over electoral integrity as a justification for various restrictions and requirements, while opponents argue that these constitute bad faith given the lack of voter fraud evidence in the United States.
Matthew McDade Phelan is an American real estate developer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he serves in Texas House of Representatives representing District 21, which includes most of Jefferson and all of Orange and Jasper counties in the southeast corner of the state. He served as the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from January 2021 through December 2024.
Maine Question 1, "Do you want to reject the section of Chapter 399 of the Public Laws of 2011 that requires new voters to register to vote at least two business days prior to an election?", was a 2011 people's veto referendum that rejected a bill repealing Election Day voter registration in Maine. The vote was held on November 8, 2011 after being placed on the ballot due to supporters collecting the necessary number of signatures. The veto effort was successful, with 237,024 votes in favor of repeal to 155,156 against repeal.
Bradford Jay Raffensperger is an American businessman, civil engineer, and politician serving as the secretary of state of Georgia since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served in the Georgia House of Representatives, representing District 50.
The 2020 United States presidential election in Georgia was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Georgia voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump of Florida, and running mate Vice President Mike Pence of Indiana against Democratic Party nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware, and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris of California. Georgia has 16 electoral votes in the Electoral College.
The 2020 United States presidential election in Texas was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election in which all 50 states plus the District of Columbia participated. Texas voters chose electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote, pitting the Republican Party's nominee, incumbent President Donald Trump, and running mate, Vice President Mike Pence, against the Democratic Party's nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate, California Senator Kamala Harris. The state of Texas had 38 electoral votes in the Electoral College.
The Freedom to Vote Act, introduced as H.R.1, is a bill in the United States Congress intended to expand voting rights, change campaign finance laws to reduce the influence of money in politics, ban partisan gerrymandering, and create new ethics rules for federal officeholders.
Barry Fleming is an American politician who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2013 to 2024. He previously served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009.
Greg VanWoerkom is a Republican member of the Michigan House of Representatives, representing the 88th district.
Fair Fight Action is an American political organization founded in 2018 by Stacey Abrams to address voter suppression in Georgia and across the United States.
Several elections took place in the U.S state of Georgia in 2020. The general election was held on November 3, 2020, and the runoff on January 5, 2021. A combined partisan primary for president and all other offices on the ballot was held on June 9, 2020, with a primary runoff held on August 11.
Postal voting played an important role in the 2020 United States elections, with many voters reluctant to vote in person during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The election was won by Joe Biden, the Democratic candidate. The Republican candidate President Donald Trump made numerous false claims of widespread fraud arising from postal voting, despite nearly-universal agreement to the contrary, with overwhelming amounts of supporting evidence, by the mainstream media, fact-checkers, election officials, and the courts.
Members of the United States Republican Party have reacted differently to Republican president Donald Trump's claims about the 2020 United States presidential election, with many publicly supporting them, many remaining silent, and a few publicly denouncing them. Trump claimed to have won the election, and made many claims of election fraud. By December 11, 2020, 126 out of 196 Republican members of the House backed a lawsuit filed in the United States Supreme Court supported by nineteen Republican state attorneys general seeking to subvert the election and overturn the election results. The Trump campaign hired the Berkeley Research Group to investigate whether there had been voter fraud. The researchers found nothing, and the consultancy reported this to Trump and his chief of staff Mark Meadows on a conference call in the final days of the year, before the attack on the Capitol.
The following is a timeline of major events before, during, and after the 2020 United States presidential election, the 59th quadrennial United States presidential election, from November 2020 to January 2021. For prior events, see Timeline of the 2020 United States presidential election (2017–2019) and Timeline of the 2020 United States presidential election.
Following the 2020 United States presidential election and the unsuccessful attempts by Donald Trump and various other Republican officials to overturn it, Republican lawmakers initiated a sweeping effort to make voting laws more restrictive within several states across the country. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, as of October 4, 2021, more than 425 bills that would restrict voting access have been introduced in 49 states—with 33 of these bills enacted across 19 states so far. The bills are largely centered around limiting mail-in voting, strengthening voter ID laws, shortening early voting, eliminating automatic and same-day voter registration, curbing the use of ballot drop boxes, and allowing for increased purging of voter rolls. Republicans in at least eight states have also introduced bills that would give lawmakers greater power over election administration after they were unsuccessful in their attempts to overturn election results in swing states won by Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the 2020 election. The efforts garnered press attention and public outrage from Democrats, and by 2023 Republicans had adopted a more "under the radar" approach to achieve their goals.
The Election Integrity Act of 2021, originally known as the Georgia Senate Bill 202, is a law in the U.S. state of Georgia overhauling elections in the state. It replaced signature matching requirements on absentee ballots with voter identification requirements, limits the use of ballot drop boxes, expands in-person early voting, bars officials from sending out unsolicited absentee ballot request forms, reduces the amount of time people have to request an absentee ballot, increases voting stations or staff and equipment where there have been long lines, makes it a crime for outside groups to give free food or water to voters waiting in line, gives the Georgia General Assembly greater control over election administration, and shortens runoff elections, among other provisions.
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