Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jason Carter, talking to voters at a restaurant.
I love to say "if we turn out, we win," and for good reason—because it's true. And there's no better example of this than Georgia. Red state, right? President Barack Obama lost it in 2012 by 300,000 votes, a 53-45 percent margin.
Yet there are an estimated 6-700,000 unregistered African Americans in metro Atlanta alone, not to mention young voters, Latinos (now nine percent of the state), single women, and every other ill-performing base Democratic demographic throughout the entire state. In other words, if all our potential supporters were registered to vote and voted, Georgia would be a safe Blue state.
Now the DSCC has committed to spending over $60 million to help Democrats win tough races this cycle, and unprecedented effort aimed at registering and turning out our core voters in the hottest battleground states, including Georgia. And it appears to be working:
An unusually high number of residents have registered to vote in the Peach State this year, and thousands are still awaiting approval just days before early voting starts Monday across Georgia [...]
More 212,000 have been added to voter rolls so far this year as the Nov. 4 midterm election approaches.
On average, a county election office may see 50 to 70 pending voter applications, said Chris Harvey, the chief investigator for the Secretary of State’s Office. This year, it’s 2,000 to 3,000, which Harvey called “uncharacteristically high.”
And registrations are still coming in:
The total number of active voters in Georgia now tops 5.1 million — up from more than 4.9 million as of March 1. It will rise. On Monday alone, for example, Fulton officials received 2,200 online voter applications in addition to several thousand other applications the county still needs to process.
The bulk of these appear to be driven by the Democratic Party-backed New Georgia Project, who is also raising holy hell about 40,000 registrations that have magically disappeared.
The New Georgia Project, the Democratic-backed group now under state investigation, has said it cannot locate more than 40,000 applicants on Georgia’s voter rolls despite in some cases filing their paperwork months ago.
Very convenient for Republicans, who have suddenly grown very concerned about the scary notion of
Democrats voting and are eager to
put up roadblocks. Given their demographic disadvantages, Republicans won't give up power without a fight, and really, disenfranchisement is one of the few tools they have left.
This isn't a wave election. It's a 50-50 one, and the victory will be the team that works hardest to win. A couple of things you can do right now:
You can help protect voter rights by giving to our slate of Secretary of State candidates. If you haven't done so already, now's a great time! Voter protection matters.
You can register to vote by mail, and then get your friends and family to do so as well! Voting by mail is convenient, easy, and defeats the best of the GOP's voter suppression efforts.