Former President Jimmy Carter on Tuesday lashed out at the recent Republican-led efforts in his home state of Georgia to restrict ballot access, saying he is “disheartened, saddened, and angry.”

“American democracy means every eligible person has the right to vote in an election that is fair, open, and secure. It should be flexible enough to meet the electorate’s changing needs. As Georgians, we must protect these values,” the former Democratic President wrote in a statement, CNN reported.

“We must not lose the progress we have made. We must not promote confidence among one segment of the electorate by restricting the participation of others. Our goal always should be to increase, not decrease, voter participation.”

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Carter said the GOP efforts present an attempt to “turn back the clock” on hard-won progress in empowering disenfranchised voters.

The bill creates ID requirements to request an absentee ballot and establishes a hotline to file complaints and allegations of voter intimidation and illegal election activities.  

The Republicans have argued that the bill is necessary to restore confidence in the voting system, but it has been the GOP lawmakers and former President Donald Trump who have pushed baseless voter fraud claims surrounding the 2020 election.

Without naming Trump in his statement, Carter said: “Many of the proposed changes are reactions to allegations of fraud for which no evidence was produced—allegations that were, in fact, refuted through various audits, recounts, and other measures.”

Georgia’s Republican governor Brian Kemp has still not announced whether he would sign the bill in its current form, but a CNN report says Kemp “has been clear about his support for strengthened voter ID provisions on absentee voting.”

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Georgia has been a major political focal point after the state flipped blue, for the first time in nearly 30 years, during the 2020 presidential election. In addition to the presidency, Democrats also won both of Georgia’s US Senate seats in January runoff elections.

At almost the same time that the Georgia Senate was passing its legislation on Monday, the governor of Iowa was signing new voting restrictions into law.

Carter’s statement was issued by the Carter Center, an organization founded by the former President and former first lady Rosalynn Carter.