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JHan

(10,173 posts)
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 01:52 AM Aug 2018

"Georgia Elections Board To Close 75% Of Black County's Polling Places"

To the Members of the Randolph County Board of Elections and Registration,

The ACLU of Georgia writes to express grave concern about your discriminatory proposal to eliminate over 75% of polling places (7 out of 9) on the eve of the November elections. These polling place closures will virtually guarantee lower voter turnout in a Black Belt county that is predominantly African-American (60%), and will completely prevent rural voters without transportation (again, disproportionately African-American) from voting in person on Election Day.

The timing of your proposal is also suspicious and calls to question your true motives behind this proposal. These are the exact same polling places used in the primary and primary run-off earlier this year. It makes no sense to suddenly reduce the number of polling places for this November’s election, which will see far higher voter turnout than in the primaries or the primary run-off. Your proposal has also been plagued by procedural irregularities that cast further doubt about the real motivation behind these proposals.

Making it disproportionately harder for African American voters to cast a ballot—especially when done so deliberately—is a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. § 10301, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

We demand that you reject this proposal or you will face potential legal liability


https://crooksandliars.com/2018/08/georgia-elections-board-close-75-black
34 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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"Georgia Elections Board To Close 75% Of Black County's Polling Places" (Original Post) JHan Aug 2018 OP
K&R for visibility. nt tblue37 Aug 2018 #1
Fuck this shit! Time to overwhelm the Georgia capital!!!! NOW! nt Quixote1818 Aug 2018 #2
These people only know how to cheat. It's disgusting. JHan Aug 2018 #3
When you know how to cheat... dchill Aug 2018 #6
And So It Starts - Disgusting......nt global1 Aug 2018 #4
Starts? Johnny2X2X Aug 2018 #28
K&R nt Granny M Aug 2018 #5
Get it on every cable program Awsi Dooger Aug 2018 #7
Agree! DemocracyMouse Aug 2018 #9
What next Georgia? Work without pay? You want to make the South great again? DemocracyMouse Aug 2018 #8
MSGA - Make slavery great again. KY_EnviroGuy Aug 2018 #14
sick Demovictory9 Aug 2018 #10
The ACLU is the only non-profit I regularly donate to. JohnnyRingo Aug 2018 #11
DAMN the FASCISTS. Cha Aug 2018 #12
THIS is the type of stuff that hurts democrats the most JI7 Aug 2018 #13
Republicans are attacking democracy from 100 fronts. KY_EnviroGuy Aug 2018 #15
Dems get the mail in ballots to those folks pronto. SleeplessinSoCal Aug 2018 #16
If you can't win, cheat! It's the Republican waay! sakabatou Aug 2018 #17
14th amendment their ass n/t TexasBushwhacker Aug 2018 #18
K&R betsuni Aug 2018 #19
kneeling guss Aug 2018 #20
The R candidate, Kemp, is the current GA Sec of State DeminPennswoods Aug 2018 #21
The county met Friday but I haven't heard any updates Roland99 Aug 2018 #22
There was someone on Joe Madison's show this past Friday BumRushDaShow Aug 2018 #23
Yup, will check if there's any new info out today. JHan Aug 2018 #24
Make America Great Again by rolling back the clock to the 1950s. oasis Aug 2018 #25
Fire up the free rides and then fire the members of the Georgia Elections Board. Shameful. Vinca Aug 2018 #26
Send in the carpenters and construction pros DeminPennswoods Aug 2018 #34
This is horrific sellitman Aug 2018 #27
We might need to get drivers from surrounding counties out Ilsa Aug 2018 #29
Georgia: Voting rights activists move to block a plan to close two-thirds of polling places in a maj Gothmog Aug 2018 #30
Kick. CrispyQ Aug 2018 #31
Isn't the republican gubernatorial candidate also head of elections? Blue_true Aug 2018 #32
Yep DeminPennswoods Aug 2018 #33

dchill

(38,502 posts)
6. When you know how to cheat...
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 02:39 AM
Aug 2018

You don't even have to know how to govern! You just keep cheating!

Johnny2X2X

(19,066 posts)
28. Starts?
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 09:17 AM
Aug 2018

This stuff has been going on for near 20 years now. Minorities nationwide face much longer lines to vote than whites. It's voter suppression and it's got to stop. There are so many distractions, but stories like this should be the ones that garner the headlines and outrage. People used to march because of stuff like this.

Anecdotally, I know people that stood in line for hours in the inner city here in Michigan in 2016 and finally gave up and went home.

 

Awsi Dooger

(14,565 posts)
7. Get it on every cable program
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 02:41 AM
Aug 2018

Hour after hour. Put them on the defensive. Everyone can see the clear intent of this.

Like we need another full night of nothing but the latest Trump stuff. Suppression should be the focus otherwise nobody knows and nobody cares.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,492 posts)
14. MSGA - Make slavery great again.
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 03:35 AM
Aug 2018

Overall, we're heading in that direction anyway - socially and economically.

Unregulated capitalism at its very best........ .........

JohnnyRingo

(18,635 posts)
11. The ACLU is the only non-profit I regularly donate to.
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 03:09 AM
Aug 2018

This is why.

Often they are the only bulwark against such blatantly dirty tricks.
No wonder conservatives hate the ACLU. My money is well spent

JI7

(89,250 posts)
13. THIS is the type of stuff that hurts democrats the most
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 03:22 AM
Aug 2018

we spend too much time on type of candidates and other strategy. but just having a system allows for fairness in voting would help a lot.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,492 posts)
15. Republicans are attacking democracy from 100 fronts.
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 03:40 AM
Aug 2018

Their hubris and malfeasance never ceases to shock and amaze.

DeminPennswoods

(15,286 posts)
21. The R candidate, Kemp, is the current GA Sec of State
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 06:21 AM
Aug 2018

So, this is just a blatant try to suppress the vote and shows he must be very worried about losing to Abrams.

BumRushDaShow

(129,057 posts)
23. There was someone on Joe Madison's show this past Friday
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 07:38 AM
Aug 2018

who is from there and who lives there (and has family there), who happened to be on vacation in Martha's Vineyard when he had his broadcast there last week and he gave her the mic. She was livid as she said she had not heard that this was being considered. She said as soon as she got back there (this week), she was going to raise holy hell.

The county being impacted only has a population of about 7000 people and during the show, it was brought up that in some cases, if the closures happened (and it was noted that there is no public transit there), it would be a 3 hour walk to the nearest polling place.

Ilsa

(61,695 posts)
29. We might need to get drivers from surrounding counties out
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 09:25 AM
Aug 2018

and organize it with the state and local D party. Make sure drivers have a special designation so no one is afraid to ride with a stranger.

Also, get early voting underway there with volunteer drivers.

But more than anything, stop Kemp from closing the precincts, and fire him from every govt job!

Gothmog

(145,291 posts)
30. Georgia: Voting rights activists move to block a plan to close two-thirds of polling places in a maj
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 09:41 AM
Aug 2018

There will be litigation https://thevotingnews.com/voting-rights-activists-move-to-block-a-plan-to-close-two-thirds-of-polling-places-in-a-majority-black-county-the-washington-post/

Voting rights activists in Georgia say they will launch a petition drive in an effort to collect enough signatures of registered voters to block a proposal to close more than two-thirds of polling precincts in a predominantly black county ahead of this fall’s general election. The plan to shutter the voting sites in Randolph County, a rural community about 2½ hours south of Atlanta, has drawn dozens of local residents and progressive groups to two public hearings in recent days. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a formal protest with the county’s board of elections. Brian Kemp, Georgia’s secretary of state, which oversees elections operations throughout the state, has issued a statement urging Randolph County officials to “abandon this effort.” Kemp also is the Republican nominee in one of the country’s most-watched gubernatorial contests. The Democratic nominee, Stacey Abrams, a former state legislator, is seeking to become the nation’s first black female governor.

The two-member county election board – a third member stepped down recently – has scheduled a vote for Friday on the proposal to shutter seven of the county’s nine polling places, citing problems including facilities in disrepair or inaccessible to people with disabilities. But some activists are suspicious of the board’s motives, noting that Randolph County is more than 55 percent black and many residents have low incomes. The county, which covers 431 square miles, has no public transportation system.

All nine of the polling places were used for the May primaries and less than a month ago for statewide runoffs, in which Kemp, helped by an endorsement from President Trump, beat Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle for the GOP nomination.

Blue_true

(31,261 posts)
32. Isn't the republican gubernatorial candidate also head of elections?
Mon Aug 20, 2018, 04:36 PM
Aug 2018

To the people that say there is no difference. There is a difference, a very big difference. Democrats try to lift people up, republicans work to tear people down and divide them into warring factions.

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