SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Georgia Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams takes the stage to declare victory in the primary during an election night event on May 22, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. If elected, Abrams would become the first African American female governor in the nation. (Photo: Jessica McGowan/Getty Images)
'Outrageous' Voter Suppression by 'Cowardly Republicans' in Georgia Part of Nationwide GOP Attack on Democracy
Sen. Bernie Sanders urged every single U.S. voter to "vigorously protest this outrageous action" in Georgia.
Oct 12, 2018
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 Dreams reported Thursday, 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."
In a tweet on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders urged every single U.S. voter to "vigorously protest this outrageous action" in Georgia.
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."
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, each one of 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."
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to Kemp as Georgia's Attorney General. That error has been fixed. He is the Secretary of State.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
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 Dreams reported Thursday, 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."
In a tweet on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders urged every single U.S. voter to "vigorously protest this outrageous action" in Georgia.
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."
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, each one of 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."
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to Kemp as Georgia's Attorney General. That error has been fixed. He is the Secretary of State.
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 Dreams reported Thursday, 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."
In a tweet on Friday, Sen. Bernie Sanders urged every single U.S. voter to "vigorously protest this outrageous action" in Georgia.
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."
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, each one of 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."
Correction: An earlier version of this article mistakenly referred to Kemp as Georgia's Attorney General. That error has been fixed. He is the Secretary of State.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.