Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp is helping his own campaign for governor by holding up the registrations of more than 50,000 voters, a large majority of them people of color. Kemp says there’s no problem because people can still show up at the polls and fix any problems with their registrations, which may have been put on hold over as minor an issue as an omitted hyphen in a name. But Democrat Stacey Abrams explains why that explanation doesn’t fly:
“They get a confusing letter saying there’s something wrong with their registration,” she said on Sunday. “And more than likely they will sit out this election. The miasma of fear that is created through voter suppression is as much about terrifying people about trying to vote as it is about actually blocking their ability to do so.”
Exactly so. Abrams is calling on Kemp to resign as secretary of state so that he’s not both the referee and a competitor in the gubernatorial race, but of course he’s refusing. No wonder—as a competitor, he wants to be the referee. He wants to help himself and the rest of his Republican team.
It’s naked corruption, and it’s the Republican way in 2018.
Get out the vote: Join the MoveOn text team.
This is why we need to elect Democrats up and down the ballot, including secretaries of state and governors as well as members of Congress. Can you chip in $1 to even one of these candidates?