The Daily Signal - What Media Got Wrong on Georgia's New Election Law

Episode Date: May 7, 2021

Georgia state Sen. John Albers says the media got a lot wrong in covering Georgia's election legislation. "The media missed most of it," Albers told "The Daily Signal Podcast." "They had written up their talking points before the bill was even passed. In fact, even before the bill was created, they already had a narrative against the bill, even though when they looked at the bill and many of them made comments, they were false." Albers joins the podcast to discuss what Georgia's new election law is really about. We also cover these stories: Florida takes steps to further secure its elections.  Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. supports Ukraine as Russian troops continue to be deployed along the Russia-Ukraine border.  The Texas state Senate passes a bill to allow those 21 or older to carry a handgun without a permit.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, May 7th. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. Georgia State Senator John Albers says the media got it all wrong in their reporting of the newly passed Georgia election bill. He joins the Daily Signal podcast to talk about what he thinks the media missed, as well as go over what the Georgia law actually entails. And don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review

or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news. Florida just took steps to further secure their elections. On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new election bill into law. The signing of the bill was broadcast live on Fox News, Fox and Friends. DeSantis explained to Fox what the legislation does and why it is an important step to secure the Sunshine State's elections. We're making sure we're enforcing voter ID. Look, you have to show.

a picture ID to do all these other things in society, clearly voting. We're also banning ballot harvesting. We're not going to let political operatives go and get satchels of votes and dump them in some drop box. We're also prohibiting mass mailing a ballot. We've had absentee voting in Florida for a long time. You request a ballot, you get it, and then you can mail it in. But to just indiscriminately send them out is not a recipe for success. We're increasing transparency even better. In Florida, we track the votes coming in in real time. Not the results, but we need to. We know who's voting, what your registration is, and we follow the turnout. So then when the election's over, we know the universe of votes that have been cast,

and it makes it so that someone can't dump 100,000 votes two or three days later. And then finally, we're prohibiting private money from basically running the elections, like these Zucker bucks that they were doing in all these different parts of the country. So this keeps us ahead of the curve. We put a lot of effort into last election, and we wanted to make sure we did it well. had 11 million votes counted by midnight, 99%. We think this will make it even better as we go forward. And so we're proud of the strides that we've made. We're not resting on our laurels. And me signing this bill here says, Florida, your vote counts. Your vote is going to be cast with

integrity and transparency. Anthony Blinken, President Joe Biden, Secretary of State, says the United States stands in support of Ukraine and against Russia as Russian troops continue to be stationed along the Russian border with Ukraine. In an interview with MSNBC's Andrew Mitchell, Blinken said significant forces remain, adding, some of the heavy equipment has been pulled back, but other heavy equipment remains. They can turn that around fairly quickly, Blinken said.

Blinken added, what we're doing is making clear our commitment to helping Ukraine defend itself with security assistance, Blinken said, telling Russia that the international community is resolutely against any Russian aggression, reckless actions in Ukraine. There have been long-standing nations on Russia as a result of the actions it took, and I hope that we don't see any more, Lincoln said. On Wednesday, the Texas Senate passed a bill to allow Texans, 21 years and older, to carry a handgun

without a permit. The bill passed the Senate 18 to 13 and passed the Texas House in April with a vote of 84 to 56. Governor Greg Abbott says he plans to sign the legislation into law, but the bill is being criticized by gun control groups and police unions. Dallas Police Chief Eddie Garcia says the legislation could put his officers in danger. The police chief said that gun owners have a duty to ensure their firearms are handled safely and a duty to know applicable laws. The licensing process is the best way to make sure this message is conveyed. If Abbott does sign the bill, Texas will join 20 other states that have similar legislation. Former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo is calling out the CIA for a recruitment video that the agency recently posted

featuring a female CIA officer who used words including intersectional cisgender and millennial. Pompeo responded to the recruitment video on Twitter saying, When I was director of the CIA, we valued individuals based on their talent and skill, not their race or sexuality. I'll never forget what one female analyst said to me. Thank you for valuing me for my work. I want my abilities and achievements to define me, not my sexuality. Pompeo added, The collection of incredibly talented patrons serving America at the CIA is what makes it the best spy agency in the world.

and we must continue to recruit the best and the brightest. We can't afford to risk our national security to appease some liberal, woke agenda. The Audubon Zoo and Aquarium in New Orleans, Louisiana, has canceled a pro-police promotion over concerns that it would create division. The zoo planned to offer a discount to any visitors wearing blue from May 11th to May 16th. The promotion was a way to show support for the New Orleans Police Department. But the Audubon Institute announced earlier this week that they were canceling the promotion over concerns that the event could be unintentionally divisive. The decision to cancel the promotion was made after the Audubon Nature Institute received feedback from members of our community and from persons outside our community. Now stay tuned for my conversation with State Senator John Albers on the Georgia election law.

Hi, I'm Virginia Allen. I want to tell you all about an an awesome Heritage Foundation resource called the Index of Economic Freedom. The Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom ranks nearly every nation in the world according to its level of economic freedom. Whether for personal, professional use, or for school research, the index is a wealth of information. You can learn why it's easier to start a business in Switzerland than it is in France and where America falls on the ranking. So go ahead and visit heritage.org slash index to explore the newly released

2021 Index of Economic Freedom, which features interactive maps, country rankings, graphs of data, and much, much more. We're joined today on The Daily Signal by Georgia State Senator John Albers. Senator Albers, it's great to have you with us on the Daily Signal. Thank you for having me. Well, you were part of the leadership in the Georgia legislature that passed Georgia's new election integrity bill. Can you start off by telling us about this legislation?

Certainly. This is a great bill that increases the access to vote while at the same time putting the right security and transparency in place to assure that everyone can have confidence in the Georgia election systems and process. Well, many conservatives across the country aren't aware of what is in the bill. I think a lot of liberals are even less knowledgeable on what is actually in the bill. Can you tell us about a little bit of the process that went into like building the bill and then what people should know about the bill that maybe they don't? Certainly. The first thing is it expands voting. For example, we added additional weekend voting. As we know,

a lot of folks are working during the week, but they still like that process of going to the polls in person. This gives them more opportunities in the weekend when they may not be working. It also allows drop boxes. In the past, there was never a drop box in Georgia law. It was only put in place during the emergency order for the COVID-19 pandemic. We added them, but made sure they'd be inside and secure locations. Obviously, we want the votes to be protected. Today, when you go up to vote, you always need a voter ID.

This simply says you need that same ID and you write the number. down for an absentee ballot. And then other common sense things, such as ballots need to have a watermark and a seal on them, very similar to any other official document. So these are good, smart protections that were put into place. And I'm very proud of the work we did. Would you say, what is your perspective on the media's coverage of this? Was there false narratives that were going around? What is your perspective on how the legislation was covered? And what did the media miss if the media missed things? Well, the media missed most of it. They had written up their talking points before the bill was even passed. In fact, even before the

bill was created, they already had a narrative against the bill, even though when they looked at the bill and many have made comments, they were false. Our own Senate minority leader made false comments on the floor as we were passing the bill. The President of the United States got four Pinocchio noses for not knowing what was in the bill. So the typical left narrative was trying to betray something that wasn't true. And what we're doing is we're debunking those one at a time to show people this is good. In fact, a recent poll just came out by the University of Georgia showing that the people of Georgia overwhelmingly support it. Well, you actually lost your job as a result of this legislation. Can you tell us the whole story of what happened? Certainly. About five weeks ago,

the disgraced and discredited group, the Lincoln Project, sent a series of tweets out saying that I sponsored one of the bill, Senate Bill 62, which required a watermarked. Mark and a seal on a ballot. It was a bipartisan bill, said that I sponsored and voted for it, then copied the firm that I worked for at that time, and then copied all their major nationwide clients. And within a matter of 24 hours, I lost my job. Even though they were discredited and obviously both the left and the right, all media sources have shown that they have nothing but systemic problems. And what concerns me, Rachel, is if it could happen to me, it could happen to anybody and that economic terrorism and cancel culture is very dangerous to our democracy.

What does the way forward for you look like in terms of fighting back or, you know, speaking out on it, whatever, like, what do you want, like, are you going to continue to fight back or what do you want to do as a result of this? Because it is, it is concerning. Well, obviously, we're going to take the steps we need to against the Lincoln Project. However, if they wanted to fight, they got it. You know, I never ran for elected office for fame nor a fortune. In serving in state government, you'll take a hit on both of those things. But you do it because it's right. It's because we care. We believe in America. We believe in our state of Georgia. I believe in when I'm leaving for my children and my future grandchildren one day.

And this fight is righteous, and we need to press forward to do the right thing. Well, speaking of losing jobs, you had another colleague who also lost a job or a client. What do you think this says for the larger situation where we're at in a country right now that people are losing jobs over legislation that they're working on in their legislatures? Well, first off, it's scary, right? The folks in the left are skipping socialism and going right to communism. This is what communists do. They go after to try and cancel and remove people who don't fit their narrative.

They shut the media out of things that they don't like. It's very, very concerning. But you know what? The pendulum swings too far in one direction on purpose so we can bring it all the way back to what needs to be. So this is time for all patriotic America to stand up and say, Enough is enough. We're not going to tolerate this, and we're going to push back against these people and take our country back. Well, in the conversations about election integrity and voting rights, there's been a lot of pushback about voter ID, and people are saying it's racist to have to provide your ID to have to vote, and people are very upset about it. And when you look at just daily life, I was talking to someone about this earlier, you have to provide an ID to adopt a pet, to get on a plane, to buy a house, so many things that you just is what it is expected, and you have to do.

do. And so what is your perspective on all this pushback when it comes to providing an ID to have to vote? Well, first off, 97% of Georgians already have an ID anyhow. And those that do not, we provide a free ID to them. So there's no cost. There's no concern of that. This is just folks trying to find something in order to capitalize their false argument, right? It's just wrong. And as you just mentioned, you know, the CEO of Delta Airlines came out against this bill, which is strange, because because he has no problem taking large handouts and tax credits from the state of Georgia. Yet, before I log on to Delta's website, I need my ID and information put in. And before I can get in his plane, I need another ID.

So, you know, it's just, it's silly. And what are you afraid of by proving you are who you are? Well, as we see a lot of more states across the country, start to look at election reform legislation, how would you encourage fellow state legislators across the country to handle similar situations with what you had to deal with in Georgia? Well, be not afraid. The truth is on our side, right? It's a righteous cause. And if you think about what our founding fathers went through for this nation. I mean, think about the people that signed the Declaration of Pendants who fought in the Revolutionary War, who battled through every major world war, right? My grandfather's both fought against Nazi Germany, right? Those sacrifices are so much bigger than we can even think of. So is the battle tough? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely. We have to stick together, rally the people that know better, and take this fight to the end.

Speaking of pushback from this legislation, you mentioned Delta. The All-Star game for the MLB was moved out of Georgia to Colorado. What's your perspective on that, given that, and I think we should talk about this, but I feel like the restrictions in Colorado for voting in Georgia, they're pretty similar. So is this posturing? What's going on here? Well, I think it's quite ironic that the Major League Baseball organization, which is based in New York, which doesn't have voting rights anywhere close to as good as Georgia. In the middle of the night, decided to move it to Colorado that has more restrictive voting than Georgia does. In fact, there you have to put a photocopy of your ID and with your absentee ballot, which is ripe for identity theft. We have more absentee opportunities, more weekend voting.

So really what happened was the Major League Baseball Organization struck out when it came to integrity. What are the people of Georgia saying about the decision of the MLB and all of the that's been happening. What are you hearing from your constituents? Well, they're mad, right? They're disappointed because we had a few companies who were uninformed, who are not telling the truth, that are ultimately hurting Georgians, right? In their own posture, they said, well, we're doing this because we care. Well, if you care, you don't take jobs and business away from small businesses. And it's just simply wrong. And you know what? When you're an executive position, you have to maintain a certain amount of character and credibility. And we should hold them in a higher

standard, especially a large publicly traded company. I'm very disappointed, and I hope people will use their voices appropriately in order to counter that. In talking about the MLB, I believe your Governor, Governor Brian Kemp, had said that he would speak with the MLB commissioner to talk about this new law to explain it, to address any concerns that the MLB had. Did that conversation happened? Did the L.M.LB. want to talk to him? Well, first, I want to say government Kemp has done a phenomenal job for the state of Georgia, from voting to opening up for COVID, to having one of the best economies in the nation. I'm not sure if the MLB even ever took his call, but I know that Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines had weighed in through the entire process and had no

problem with the bill until it was after-passed, right, which is just really sad that they bought into that woke cancel culture as opposed to really focusing on the facts. Very disappointed in them. We've talked about this a little bit, but are there any other parts of this election bill that you want everyone to know about that people aren't reporting about that the media isn't talking about? You know, Rachel, the headline of this, as I mentioned in the beginning, is very simple. It increases voting access. It removes any concern of security and increases transparency. If you really wanted to have a good, safe and secure election, make sure every right vote counted, why would you not love this bill? only somebody who wanted to subvert it or perhaps do something nefarious would be against this piece of legislation. And that's the real story here. Why are they so upset about having those type of parameters put in place?

Well, as someone who's worked on election integrity legislation, what's your perspective on what needs to happen further in this country to ensure election integrity? Well, you've got many states that don't require an ID at all. In fact, there's a couple lawsuits. I've seen one where a gentleman not only went in the vote, for himself, but he registered another fake name as a female, came back in a few hours later with a wig on, right? This is very concerning. Okay, we need to have a national database to know where people are to make sure they're not trying to vote in multiple states. We've had that happen in Georgia. In fact, one of our state house races is being challenged right now because we've found 800 to 1,000 people who are registered and living in another state that voted in this election. That's just wrong. First off, it's illegal, right? You just play by the rules, right? And I think that's a very reasonable thing for us to ask for anybody. Well, what kind of risk does the country run, would you say if election integrity isn't something that's pursued and implemented? Well, you know, if you think about our republic, it has survived all these years because we have had faith in the very system that is there. And that starts with us having our elected leaders.

if we lose faith in the voting system and the way we elect those leaders, it will be the beginning of the end of, I believe, what Ben Franklin said is a republic if you can keep it, right? America would never be destroyed from the outside, only from the inside. That's why it's so important today that this generation, our generation, rises up and make sure we take back the narrative. We've talked a lot about election integrity legislation and what you're all doing in Georgia. Is there anything else you want to highlight before we wrap up on legislation you're working on that you are excited about?

Well, certainly, I was proud to pass a lot of great legislation this last year. One of the big things we did was to assure that businesses could stay open during the pandemic and not have a fear of all this foolish litigation. I'll never forget, I got a call about a little over a year ago from a friend in California and said, you're not going to believe it. The billboards are already up. I said, what billboards? He said, did you get COVID on the job?

Call us. It was the ambulance chaser type of lawsuits that already began there. We did a business immunity bill. so business could feel comfortable opening back up. People were afraid to open up their pools and their homeowners associations, et cetera, because we need Georgians to get back to business. For eight years, we've been the number one place to do business. So when you hear states like California and New York and Illinois all complain,

well, it's because all of their folks are leaving and moving to the states that say, we're going to roll out the red carpet because we want your business, we want your families, we want to give you a great quality of life, and we want to follow the principles that make America America. Well, State Senator John Albers, thank you so much for joining us on The Daily Signal. Thank you so much, Rachel. And that'll do it for today's episode.

Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all on Monday. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.