In 2018, Brian Kemp, then Georgia Secretary of State and in charge of elections, used that office to help get himself elected governor by playing all kinds of voter suppression games. The GOP expanded that suppression nationwide in 2020, including restricting the time for processing mail-in ballots and when they have to be received. And by slowing down the Post Office delivery of those ballots. They did this knowing full well that the coronavirus pandemic meant that voters who are concerned about their health — who are more likely Democratic than Republican — would turn to the mail to vote safely.
Well, it looks like Governor Kemp will find his own vote suppressed.
Georgia Gov. Kemp may not be able to vote during COVID-19 quarantine
Seems Kemp just got exposed to someone with the coronavirus, so he has to self-quarantine, meaning that he can’t physical go to the polls on Tuesday. But it’s too late for him to get an absentee ballot and return it in time to be counted.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp might not be able to vote because he’s in quarantine after close contact with U.S. Rep. Drew Ferguson, who tested positive for the coronavirus Friday.
Kemp, who tested negative for the virus, has requested an absentee ballot, his spokesman said.
But an absentee ballot requested Friday is unlikely to arrive in the mail before polls close Tuesday. Georgia law and a court ruling required all absentee ballots to be received by county election officials before 7 p.m. on Election Day.
He hasn’t even gotten his ballot yet, much less returned it, and it’s Monday morning.
Now, the CDC did say he and those in his situation could still vote in person — CDC: Gov. Kemp, other voters under quarantine can go to polls Tuesday — if they maintain six feet distance, wear a mask, sanitize their hands before and after, and alert the polling officials to their status. Those are all things that Trump has mocked other people for doing. I somehow don’t think he’ll resist doing the same to Kemp.
On top of which, since Kemp is on record as having requested a mail-in ballot, if he does vote in person, it will have to be provisionally.
All in all, it should be a lesson in humility, but somehow I doubt he’ll learn it. It’s a good teaching opportunity that Stacey Abrams should use, however.