Last week in Georgia, the Randolph County Board of Elections announced a proposal to close seven of its nine polling locations. The backlash was swift and fierce. With 61 percent of the county’s residents identifying as black, this was widely understood by civil and voting rights organizations as nothing more than a blatant attempt at voter suppression. The ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights Under Law all threatened to sue should the proposal pass. And on Friday morning, amid the statewide and national attention, the two-person Randolph County Board of Elections held a five-minute meeting in which they rejected the plan, allowing the polling locations to remain open.
Kristen Clarke, head of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, was quoted as saying, "This is a victory for African American voters across Georgia who are too often subject to a relentless campaign of voter suppression.” Clarke is right, and the timing of such a proposal is no accident. Though the Randolph County attorney claimed on Thursday that the “Board of Elections didn’t intend to disenfranchise any voters,” that’s just not believable, especially when November’s election includes the possibility that Georgia could elect its first (as well as the country’s first) black woman governor, Democrat Stacey Abrams.
Though the proposal claimed that the polling locations should be closed because they were not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, we can call that out for the blatant lie it is. This was never accidental. It’s also not merely a coincidence when the consultant who authored the proposal was on a shortlist of referrals given to Randolph County directly by the office of the secretary of state—a position held by Brian Kemp, who is running against Abrams in the general election. The consultant is also a donor to Kemp’s campaign. And Kemp has been the architect of voter suppression laws in Georgia before, overseeing the enforcement of tough new voter identification and registration laws.
So if this looks transparent and obvious, its because it is. It’s proof that Georgia Republicans will do anything to steal this election and take away black people’s right to vote in order to keep them from voting for progress. That’s not the kind of government people in Georgia deserve or need. This is why it’s important for Stacey Abrams to win and turn Georgia blue, once and for all.
Please donate $3 to help elect Stacey Abrams as Georgia’s next governor!