Biden calls new Georgia voting law ‘Jim Crow in the 21st Century’

(CNN) — President Joe Biden on Friday called a sweeping elections bill signed into law in Georgia “Jim Crow in the 21st Century” and a “blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience.”

“Recount after recount and court case after court case upheld the integrity and outcome of a clearly free, fair, and secure democratic process,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House, referring to the 2020 election, when he became the first Democratic presidential candidate in nearly three decades to win the state.

“Instead of celebrating the rights of all Georgians to vote or winning campaigns on the merits of their ideas, Republicans in the state instead rushed through an un-American law to deny people the right to vote. This law, like so many others being pursued by Republicans in statehouses across the country is a blatant attack on the Constitution and good conscience,” Biden said.

Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia signed the bill into law Thursday evening. The bill is part of a national Republican effort to restrict access to the ballot box in key battleground states after the 2020 election saw record turnout.

Voting rights advocates say the newly-signed bill in Georgia underscores the need for federal legislation to set a national standard for voting rules.

The President repeated his call for Congress to pass the voting rights legislation, adding, “This is Jim Crow in the 21st Century. It must end.”

Biden concluded his statement by saying that he will take his “case to the American people — including Republicans who joined the broadest coalition of voters ever in this past election to put country before party.”

“If you have the best ideas, you have nothing to hide. Let the people vote,” Biden said.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.