President Biden has faced a storm of criticism on social media and by experts over the past few days for repeating what many have labeled a lie about Georgia’s election law that was implemented several years ago.
“Today in Georgia, they won’t allow water to be available to you while you wait in line to vote in an election,” Biden told the graduating class at Morehouse College, a historically Black university in Atlanta, over the weekend. “What in the hell is that all about?”
“It’s 2024,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office posted on X in response to Biden’s claim. “I can’t believe we’re still dealing with lies about Georgia’s election from the left & right. Once again, Georgia doesn’t have lines. Biden owes our election officials an apology & focus on the real issues – this damn inflation that is hitting hard-working Georgians.”
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“It’s obviously a factually false statement,” Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Zack Smith told Fox News Digital. “Every state bans electioneering near polling places. Prohibiting giving money and gifts to potential voters – as Georgia election law does – to prevent unduly influencing them as they wait to vote is a good and reasonable policy.”
Smith continued, “Of course, nothing in the law prohibits poll workers from providing water to voters and nothing prohibits voters themselves from bringing snacks and water to eat and drink as they wait to vote.”
Smith also said Georgia’s law about food and water is “virtually identical to a New York election law that prohibits giving voters ‘any meat, drink, tobacco, refreshment or provision’ unless it has ‘a retail value of less than one dollar.’”
“Yet Biden and others in his administration haven’t been raising concerns about that law – wonder why?” Smith said.
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Jason Snead, executive director of Honest Elections Project, told Fox News Digital. “Joe Biden preaches about democracy then spreads misinformation designed to delegitimize elections and vilify his opponents.”
Snead continued, “Fact checkers have debunked Biden’s claims about Georgia’s election law for years. Thanks to the law Joe Biden is smearing, Georgia held [a] historically successful, high-turnout, high-confidence election in 2022 and is poised to do the same this year. There is no excuse for continuing to spread these lies ahead of a high-stakes election.”
Biden’s comment also drew strong criticism on social media.
“That’s a debunked lie,” the Republican National Committee posted on X.
“Even Democrat-aligned Politifact admitted that the Georgia law – under which demagogued ‘suppression’ has not materialized – ‘allows poll workers to set up self-serve water stations for voters to use,’” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X.
“He’s lying to sow racial division,” Red State writer Bonchie posted on X. “Pure evil.”
Critics of the law have argued that Georgia has made it a crime to pass out water to people waiting in line due to language that advocates say is targeted at political organizations influencing voters at the polls.
Politifact rated a claim from a prominent Republican that Georgia has “not criminalized” passing out water as “mostly false,” noting that the law does make certain instances a misdemeanor but acknowledged that water can be made available by poll workers under the law.
The article also acknowledges that people are allowed to pass out water and food “outside the 150-foot and 25-foot boundaries” outlined in the law.
White House Assistant Press Secretary Robyn Patterson pointed to that Politifact article in defense of Biden’s comment and said, “SB 202 makes it a crime for people — and not just people from political organizations — to hand out food or bottles of water within 150 feet of a polling place. SB 202 also sought to make it a crime to provide food or water within 25 feet of any voter standing in line.”
The Biden administration has a history of attacking election laws in Georgia, including a federal lawsuit the administration filed that accused the state of implementing “Jim Crow” voting practices.
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