In a private meeting with high dollar donors, the director of a big conservative group bragged about crafting the new voter suppression bill in Georgia, and explained how they were behind similar bills across the country.
“We did it quickly and we did it quietly,” said the executive director of Heritage Action
Jessica Anderson, the executive director of Heritage Action for America, a sister organization of the Heritage Foundation, explained that the Georgia law had eight key provisions recommended by Heritage as “best practices,” and included:
- restricting mail ballot drop boxes
- preventing election officials from sending absentee ballot request forms to voters
- making it easier for partisan workers to monitor the polls
- preventing the collection of mail ballots
- restricting the ability of counties to accept donations from nonprofit groups seeking to aid in election administration.
To “create this echo chamber,” as Anderson put it, Heritage is spending $24 million over two years in eight battleground states—Arizona, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Texas, and Wisconsin—to pass and defend restrictive voting legislation. Every Tuesday, the group leads a call with right-wing advocacy groups like the Susan B. Anthony List, Tea Party Patriots, and FreedomWorks to coordinate these efforts at the highest levels of the conservative movement. “We literally give marching orders for the week ahead,” Anderson said. “All so we’re singing from the same song sheet of the goals for that week and where the state bills are across the country.”
See complete story at Mother Jones
