While the world is preoccupied with whatever scandal President Trump has ignited today, a nefarious plot to subvert democracy itself is underway in Georgia, where local GOP actors are doing their best to disenfranchise as many voters as possible ahead of upcoming elections. Republicans have long held onto power by guaranteeing that their political enemies can’t vote, but the latest actions in Georgia go a step further than most of what we’ve seen in the past, crossing the line into blatant election meddling that can’t be ignored.
Here’s why it’s the responsibility of every decent American to look to Georgia right now, and how the Republicans there are doing their best to stymie the will of the people in an effort to keep their majority.
Black voters aren’t welcome in Georgia
Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who’s pitted in a fierce race against Democratic trailblazer Stacey Abrams, is currently being sued in Georgia because tens of thousands of voter registration applications have unjustly been put on hold by authorities who are doubtlessly concerned that those voters will swing the race in Abrams’ favor. The overwhelming majority of those applications which are being held are for African American voters, too, despite the fact that they’re a significant minority in the county. To make things worse, this entire debacle is doubtlessly fueled in part by the fact that Abrams is herself a woman of color, thereby meaning the delayed voter applications would statistically be falling into her camp.
We’ve seen this before, far too many times to count. Time and time again, when the GOP has its back to the wall during election season, it relies on the same tried-and-true tactic that’s carried it to power many times beforehand. If African American voters are about to cost you an election, the Republican logic goes, then it’s imperative that those voters never make it to the polls – especially if they’re just registering to vote for the first time. This insidious logic is at play again in Georgia, where a failing voting system is suppressing the democratic whims of the people in favor of a party that’s desperate to keep its hands on political power.
Republicans are well-aware of the fact that Democrats intend to roll back their disastrous agenda on the first day that they reclaim their majority in Congress, necessitating that they do everything in their power to subvert Democratic gains in the electorate. If that meant a bit of casual disenfranchisement, well, it worked for the GOP before, so why not now? Essentially, Republicans in Georgia are banking on the fact that they expect most voters to turn a blind eye to their voter suppression.
The days of sitting back and having our rights stripped from us by Republicans who would rather see us disenfranchised than voting against them are long over, however. It’s time for Americans everywhere to hit the ballot box and remind the GOP that voter suppression, like White Supremacy, has no proper place in the American Republic or its elections.