White House Insists On Biden’s False Claim Over Georgia Voting Law Despite Fact Check

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki refused to walk back on President Joe Biden’s false comments about the new Georgia voting law despite fact checks correcting the Democratic chief executive’s claims.

On Monday, Psaki insisted that the Biden administration will continue to push for ways to make it “easier” for the American public to exercise their right to vote — but she repeatedly downplayed questions over Biden’s false claims when asked whether she would correct the way the president understands and talks about the amendments made to Georgia voting law, in the wake of the fact checks.

“Well, fundamentally, the president doesn’t believe they should be made harder to vote. He believes it should be easier,” Psaki said in an attempt to sway the question. “This bill makes it harder to request and return an absentee ballot.”

In a bid to further defend the “reason” behind Biden’s support, but not his actual statement, the Press Secretary went on and explained that the new law — which Georgia said is only meant to increase the security and integrity of the election process — “collapses the length of Georgia’s runoff election, making it harder for large jurisdictions to offer early voting.”

She also noted that the new procedures “imposes rigid new restrictions on local officials’ ability to set polling hours to suit the needs of voters in their county.”

“Those are all pieces of the bill. So his view is that we need to make it easier and not harder to vote. And that will continue to be what he advocates for,” Psaki said without answering the specific question raised.

Pressed further, Psaki responded: “I think we can — the fact checkers will also tell you — that this bill does not make it easier for people across the state of Georgia to vote. And that’s where he has concerns.”

Asked once more whether the 78-year old Democratic president is aware that the new Georgia election law does not change Election Day voting hours, the Press Secretary deflected the question, again. 

“It also doesn’t expand them for early voting and makes early voting shorter,” Psaki claimed. “So there are a lot of components of the legislation he is concerned about. And that’s what he was expressing” — insisting that there are parts of the law “that make it more difficult to vote.”

Georgia enacted a sweeping new law meant to increase election security and address issues that were raised during the tight 2020 election between President Biden and former President Donald Trump.

The Election Integrity Act of 2021  signed by Governor Brian Kemp last week would require voter ID for absentee voting rather than relying on signature matching for verification, limited ballot drop boxes to one per county or one per 100,000 voters, expanded early voting days, and standardized early voting hours to a minimum of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and a maximum of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

The new law also gives the state’s Legislature more reign on election matters over local elections officials and it seeks to ban volunteers from handing out food, water and other tokens to voters in waiting lines within 150 feet. It also shortens run-offs from nine weeks to four, among others.

Biden’s false claims on Georgia law

Last month, Biden falsely claimed that the new voting law in Georgia would end voting at 5 p.m., making it difficult for working people to vote.

Psaki also insisted that Georgia’s statements about its new law are “not based on facts.”

“The tone for a bill that limits voting access and makes it more difficult for people to engage in voting in Georgia?” the Press Secretary responded when asked whether the White House would change its tone on referring to the new election rules.

“No, that’s actually not what the governor of Georgia has said,” the reporter responded, to which Psaki replied: “Well, I think  that is not based on facts, what the Governor of Georgia said.”

“So, no, our tone is not changing. We have concerns about the specific components of the package — including the fact that it makes it harder and more difficult for people to vote by limiting absentee options, by making it not viable; not possible for people to provide water to people who are in line; by not standardizing longer hours. So if you’re making it harder to vote, no we don’t support that,” Psaki claimed.

Fact-checkers corrects Biden’s claim

The Washington Post, however, gave the Democratic President’s claim on voting hours “four Pinocchios,” because that section of the law gives counties the option to extend voting hours.

Responding to Psaki’s recent remarks about Biden’s comments, Dan K. Eberhart, commentator on politics and energy on various media outlets said: “Even after liberal fact checkers have called them out for lying, the Biden administration doubled down on their lying.”

“And they know they can get away with it, because the media will absolutely let them,” he added.

Steeve Strange

Steeve is the CEO & Co-Founder of The Scoop.