Politico: “When Joe Biden launched his presidential campaign, he dubbed it the ‘battle for the soul of the nation.’ Locals argue that battle is being waged in Georgia as the rest of the country looks on. Democrats now control all of Washington, after Biden won Georgia and both Senate seats here flipped in January. But Republicans still run all the levers of state government here, and they’re rallying behind a sweeping new election law that could tilt the political pendulum back in their column in 2022, when nine statewide executive offices and a high-profile Senate race will be on the ballot. SB 202, signed into law by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp in late March, is either the epitome of voter suppression or the embodiment of election integrity – depending on whom you ask. Biden decried the law as ‘Jim Crow in the 21st century,’ though the final product didn’t restrict voting as much as some of the headline-grabbing early legislative proposals. The clash over SB 202 is thrusting Georgia back into the national spotlight after a tumultuous year: Ahmaud Arbery, a Black man, was killed by white vigilantes. Rayshard Brooks, another Black man, was shot to death by police. Former President Donald Trump pressured local election officials to overturn his loss here. Then there was the March massacre targeting Asian Americans, and, less than two weeks ago, the arrest of a Black state legislator protesting the new law under the gold dome of Georgia’s state capitol.”

“The fight over the future of elections in Georgia – and, some say, the soul of the nation – is playing out on multiple fronts, materializing as not only a political battle but also a legal battle, a legislative battle and a moral battle. And now, as businesses from Coke to Delta condemn the law, and Republicans threaten to retaliate by zapping their tax breaks, it’s become a corporate battle, too. On Friday, the sports world got involved, when Major League Baseball pulled its All-Star game and the draft out of the state. But not everyone, including Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, agrees that boycotts are the answer. What’s happening here is being duplicated across the country – Georgia is among the 47 states where legislators have introduced more than 360 restrictive voting bills, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice – and elected officials and voters across the country are paying attention. ‘We are the test once again for what happens and where this leads us down the road,’ said Khadijah Abdur-Rahman, a Democratic Fulton County commissioner.”