Though the bill is less stringent than its initial iteration was, it introduces a raft of new restrictions for voting and elections in the state, including stricter voter identification requirements, limiting drop boxes,
stripping the secretary of state of some of his authority, imposing new oversight of county election boards, restricting who can vote with provisional ballots, and making it a crime to offer food or water to voters waiting in lines. The bill also requires runoff elections to be held four weeks after the original vote, instead of the current nine weeks.
The bill does not include some of the harshest restrictions that had been introduced in its earlier versions, like a ban on Sunday voting that had been seen as
an attempt to curtail the role of Black churches in driving turnout. And the legislation now, in fact, expands early voting options in some areas. No-excuse absentee voting, in which voters do not have to provide a rationale for casting a ballot by mail, also remains in place, though new restrictions such as providing a state-issued identification card have been placed on the process.
