US/GA/2021/voter hydration ban

About

In what Georgia governor Brian Kemp inexplicably claimed as "taking another step to making our elections fair and secure", Georgia's voting rules were modified to make it illegal to bring food or water to people waiting in line to vote. It's not clear whether he made any attempt to logically connect the law with the claimed goal.

It seems obvious that this law is nothing more than part of the recent intensifying of the well-known and widely-admitted Republican strategy of suppressing Democratic votes, but is perhaps the most draconian measure enacted to date -- as it means that someone who acts on a simple humanitarian urge to nurture the hungry could find themself in jail.

Text

Lines 1812-1821 of SB 202:

(a) No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector, nor shall any person solicit signatures for any petition, nor shall any person, other than election officials discharging their duties, establish or set up any tables or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast

(1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is established;

(2) Within any polling place; or

(3) Within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.

The key language is in section (a), which seems to be saying:

1. No person shall do any of the following to an elector,:

   (1a) solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method

   (1b) distribute or display any campaign material

   (1c) give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts

   (1d) give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of food and drink,

2. No person shall do any of the following:

   (2a) solicit signatures for any petition

   (2b) establish or set up any tables or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast UNLESS they are an election official discharging their duties

It's unclear how to interpret this in any way other than "nobody can give food or drink to voters in line", with NO exception even for voting officials. Politifact reached the same conclusion, as did several legal experts.

If that's not what they meant, then it's a poorly-written law.

Links

• 2021-03-31 Yes, it’s illegal to give water, food to Georgia voters in line for polls "According to Eric Segall, Ashe family chair professor of law at Georgia State University College of Law, this means not even friends and family can bring snacks to voters in line."
• 2021-03-29 The facts about Georgia’s ban on food, water giveaways to voters: cites Josh Holmes, a former chief of staff to Sen. Mitch McConnell and founder of Cavalry, LLC, as claiming that the law does not prohibit individuals from distributing food or water: "What is in the statute, what is absolutely clear, is that they're preventing political organizations from giving people in line things: meals, water, what have you. Water is and should be provided at the polls for people who are standing in line."
• 2021-03-25 Georgia bans giving water to voters in line under sweeping restrictions