The organization formed by Georgia voting rights activist Stacey Abrams, Fair Fight, took to Twitter Wednesday to push back on a Washington Post report fact-checking recent comments made by Abrams regarding the state’s new voting laws.
During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on voting rights last week, Abrams claimed the new law passed in late March “eliminates hours of voting” by placing restrictions on voting times – a statement the Washington Post awarded two Pinocchios Wednesday.
GOP SENATORS GRILL STACEY ABRAMS ON HER TRUE FEELINGS ON VOTER SECURITY MEASURES
The new GOP-passed law codified that voting locations must be open for at least 8-hour periods during early voting from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., which supporters of the law say expands hours of early voting as it bars locations from offering half-day services.
But Abrams has said it will have the opposite effect and encourage voting sites that operated from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to open later and close earlier.
“Yes, it codifies that you can vote between 9 to 5 as business hours, but for 78 percent of Georgians, prior to this bill, the hours for voting during early voting was 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” Abrams told Sen. John Kennedy, R-La. “So this actually eliminates hours of voting and mandates only a shortened period of time.”
The new law permits counties to dictate if they want to allow additional hours of operation between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The Washington Post, therefore, concluded that Abrams’ language was “misleading” because she implied that voting is now restricted to the 8-hour work-day period.
CONSERVATIVE BLACK LEADERS DEFEND GEORGIA VOTING BILL, HIT ‘BIASED NEWS MEDIA’ COVERAGE
Abrams’ spokesman did not respond to questions but instead directed Fox News to group’s lengthy rebuttal on Twitter.
“This is not accurate,” Fair Fight said on Twitter Wednesday. “Glenn Kessler continues to misstate provisions of SB202 and misinterpret its impact,” the group added, referencing the author of the Post’s report.
“Anyone familiar with the recent history of GA voter access issues knows these concerns are warranted,” the group wrote Wednesday, issuing more than 10 tweets contesting the report. “Many increasingly competitive counties that maintain GOP election boards consistently try to limit voter access, resulting in measurable and significant impact.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fair Fight said that the changes will disproportionately affect Black and Brown voters by slashing in-person and dropbox locations.
Fox News could not immediately reach Washington Post for comment.