State Senator Bo Hatchett Outlines Top Priorities For 2021 Legislative Session

The Georgia General Assembly convenes on Monday in Atlanta and freshman State Senator for the 50th District Bo Hatchett said he’s ready for his first Legislative Session.

Speaking at the pre-legislative coffee sponsored by the Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce, Hatchett said the Senate has several priorities this session.

“We’ve had two caucus meetings so far and the last one was Tuesday night and we went over some priorities and our top three priorities are the election – restoring the integrity of the process, number two fighting the COVID pandemic – making sure vaccines are accessible to those who want it, and number three the budget,” he said.

Hatchett said this session, the Senate wants to get the budget passed as quickly as possible to avoid what happened last year.

“One thing that we’re going to try to do is to get that out of the way as soon as possible in case there’s another shutdown in Atlanta. Our Constitution does not allow us to vote remotely. So, we’re going to have to be in session to vote and we don’t want the same thing to happen this year that happened last year that we’re in session at the end of June and we have to pass the budget by July 1,” he explained.

Under the issue of the elections and how they were handled, Hatchett said the Senate will be looking at ways to stop voter fraud and will also look at overall election reform – especially when it comes to absentee voting.

“I think one of the top priorities is to do away with no-excuse absentee voting,” he said. “You should not be able to vote absentee just because you want to. I understand there are circumstances where you should be able to vote absentee such as those in the military, those are cases where I think it’s OK but just because you want one, we have to do away with that.”

Hatchett said he had a call early Thursday where a voter told him someone voted absentee using their old address.

No-excuse absentee ballot voting was passed by the Georgia legislature in 2005 and signed into law by then-Gov. Sonny Perdue.

But last week, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called for the elimination of no-excuse absentee balloting after county election officials complained the large amount of absentee paper ballots these past elections was a strain on their resources.

Earlier, State House Representative Alan Powell told WLHR News the House also plans to look at overhauling Georgia’s voting system and said he’s in favor of requiring photo ID’s for those requesting absentee paper ballots.

Other ideas for absentee ballots include requiring a signature match that is verified by a notary public.