(Reuters) - Republican lawmakers in Georgia were poised on Tuesday to advance a bill expanding law enforcement's power to investigate election fraud, adding to a broader push by U.S. conservatives for more restrictive voting laws after former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
Tuesday's expected vote in Georgia's House of Representatives comes less than a week after Florida's Republican-controlled legislature approved a law creating a new election police force, the first of its kind in the nation.
Voting rights groups and Democrats in both states say the legislation is intended to appease Trump and his supporters despite the fact that election fraud is exceedingly rare in the United States.
They also say the new laws will result in voter intimidation, particularly for people of color, while providing a pretense for politicians to undermine confidence in the outcome of elections.
"It doesn't have to be billy clubs," said Stephanie Ali, policy director for the New Georgia Project Action Fund, a voting rights group. "It's just finding a new way to stop people from voting in the same way that has always been done in this country."
A coalition of voting rights organizations, including the New Georgia Project Action Fund and Fair Fight Action, both founded by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, announced a nearly $1.5 million campaign on Tuesday opposing the Georgia bill.
Georgia and Florida had already passed sweeping voting...
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