'Outrageous' Voter Suppression by 'Cowardly Republicans' in Georgia Is Part of a Nationwide GOP Attack on Democracy
14 October 2018
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Civil rights groups have filed a new lawsuit in order to stop a statewide voter suppression effort in Georgia after the GOP gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp—who just happens to be the state's Secretary of State as well—led an effort to purge more than 50,000 voter registrations, predominately of black voters, from the rolls just weeks before the November 6 election.
Led by the Georgia Coalition of the People's Agenda, the local NAACP, and other civil rights groups, the suit (pdf) seeks to halt enforcement of the so-called "exact match" rule that allows the state to purge registrations if any part of their name or other information does not match existing documents.
"Georgia's 'exact match' protocol has resulted in the cancellation or rejection of tens of thousands of voter registration applications in the past," said Danielle Lang, senior legal counsel with the Campaign Legal Center, also party to the suit. "The reintroduction of this practice, which is known to be discriminatory and error-ridden, is appalling."
Kemp's implementation of the rule, as Common DreamsreportedThurdsay, was described as the "definition of a rigged system" by NARAL Pro-Choice America president Ilyse Hogue.
Stacey Abrams, the Democratic candidate, has said she is "deeply worried" that tens of thousands of Georgians are being stripped of their constitutional rights and Abigail Collazo, a spokesperson for her campaign, said "Kemp is maliciously wielding the power of his office to suppress the vote for political gain and silence the voices of thousands of eligible voters."
If the full protections of the Voting Rights Act were still intact, Secretary Brian Kemp could not have gotten away with his latest voter suppression measure. -@KristenClarkeJD in @nytimeshttps://t.co/6RKiWRfI4e
— Lawyers' Committee (@LawyersComm) October 12, 2018
In a tweet on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders urged every single U.S. voter to "vigorously protest this outrageous action" in Georgia.
In Georgia, in order to try to win the election there, cowardly Republicans are blatantly suppressing the vote and denying many African Americans the right to participate in the election. Every American must vigorously protest this outrageous action. https://t.co/UyTYfJJteR
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) October 12, 2018
Sanders linked to an op-ed by New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg, who argues that "Kemp's apparent attempt to rig the Georgia election shows in microcosm how democracy in America is failing."
This outrageous attack on voting rights shows just how vital it is to restore the Voting Rights Act to full strength. Voting is a fundamental right, and we must secure it for every American.
— Kamala Harris (@SenKamalaHarris) October 12, 2018
https://t.co/iLCmDONbv7
According to Jay Michaelson, writing for The Daily Beast, the Republican Party continues to wield their "secret weapon" of voter suppression nationwide like a dagger and a sledgehammer, including these five anti-democratic tactics in use in various states ahead of the upcoming mid-terms:
- Closing polling places in communities of color
- Purging eligible voters from the rolls without their knowledge
- Barring felons from voting
- Voter ID laws
- Eliminating early voting
As Michaelson notes, aach one these tactics "alone is troubling" but taken in aggregate, "they paint an unmistakable picture of Republican efforts to hold on to power in an increasingly non-white nation by making it harder for non-white people to vote."