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Guest column: Voting measures
Guest columnist

By State Rep. Ron Stephens.

Your Georgia General Assembly will begin its seventh week of the 2021 legislative session. By the end of the week, we completed legislative day 19 and on Monday got to the are to the halfway point of the 40-day session.

During the 2020 national elections, many issues of voter discontent with how the Secretary of State was running elections made their way to us in the Georgia General Assembly. Since the start of 2021 General Assembly, over a dozen pieces of legislation have been introduced and to better handle the legislation, the Speaker of the House of Representatives created the Special Committee on Election Integrity.

This has been an extremely judicious move by the Speaker in creating this new committee to review existing elections laws and rules. In addition, this special committee will be reviewing the information gleaned from the Governmental Affairs Committee’s hearings in December relative to testimony from citizens concerning improprieties in the November and December elections.

Several bills have been introduced to close security loopholes by requiring the printing of the name and designation of the precinct on the top of the ballot and requiring that Georgia elections ballots are embedded with a holographic security device or seal. These devices or seals will not be capable of identifying the elector who cast the ballot.

In addition, several more bills have been introduced dealing with the use of photo identification with all submitted ballots. This will require voters to present an official state photo identification, such as a driver’s license or official state identification, including date of birth, to vote by any method including mail-in ballots and voting-in-person. If that is not available, a verifiable photocopy can alternatively be presented.

Another bill would provide for uniformity to a three-week early voting period. The bill would set standards requiring all counties to hold early voting from Your Georgia General Assembly will begin its seventh week of the 2021 legislative session. By the end of the week, we completed legislative day 19 and on Monday got to the are to the halfway point of the 40-day session.

During the 2020 national elections, many issues of voter discontent with how the Secretary of State was running elections made their way to us in the Georgia General Assembly. Since the start of 2021 General Assembly, over a dozen pieces of legislation have been introduced and to better handle the legislation, the Speaker of the House of Representatives created the Special Committee on Election Integrity.

This has been an extremely judicious move by the Speaker in creating this new committee to review existing elections laws and rules. In addition, this special committee will be reviewing the information gleaned from the Governmental Affairs Committee’s hearings in December relative to testimony from citizens concerning improprieties in the November and December elections.

Several bills have been introduced to close security loopholes by requiring the printing of the name and designation of the precinct on the top of the ballot and requiring that Georgia elections ballots are embedded with a holographic security device or seal. These devices or seals will not be capable of identifying the elector who cast the ballot.

In addition, several more bills have been introduced dealing with the use of photo identification with all submitted ballots. This will require voters to present an official state photo identification, such as a driver’s license or official state identification, including date of birth, to vote by any method including mail-in ballots and voting-in-person. If that is not available, a verifiable photocopy can alternatively be presented.

Another bill would provide for uniformity to a three-week early voting period. The bill would set standards requiring all counties to hold early voting from

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