Consultant Fired Amid Anger Over Plan To Shut Polling Places
Source: Associated Press
By BRINLEY HINEMAN, Associated Press, 4 hrs. ago.
ATLANTA — Officials have fired a consultant after widespread opposition erupted over a proposal to close most polling places in a predominantly black Georgia county, the county's lawyer said Thursday.
Randolph County lawyer Tommy Coleman gave The Associated Press a letter he sent Wednesday to consultant Mike Malone ending the contract. Coleman also wrote in the letter that he was enclosing a check to cover about $2,200 in fees invoiced by Malone.
Malone did not respond Thursday to a voicemail seeking comment. Coleman said the county elections board is still set to vote Friday on the proposal to eliminate seven of the rural county's nine polling places.
County officials said the polling places don't comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. But critics raised questions about the timing, coming just months before a hotly contested race in which Democrat Stacey Abrams is seeking to become Georgia's first black governor.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia sent a letter to county officials last week demanding that they abandon the proposal. Dozens of angry emails from around the country accused county officials of discriminating against black voters...More...
Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/consultant-fired-amid-anger-over-plan-to-shut-polling-places/ar-BBMkZPT
The population of Randolph County, Ga. is more than 61 percent black, double the statewide percentage according to Census data. It is located about 160 miles south of Atlanta, near the border with Alabama.
RELATED: "Trump Administration Is Using Federal Disability Law To Disenfranchise Minority Voters," Think Progress, Aug. 22, 2018. https://thinkprogress.org/ada-voter-suppression-cd7031080bfd/
Randolph County, Georgia is the latest place where officials are using the Americans with Disabilities Act to suppress votes. A majority-black county in rural Georgia announced a plan last week to close seven of its nine polling places ahead of the November election, claiming the polls cannot continue to operate because they are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The move sparked instant opposition from voting rights advocates, who have threatened legal action if Randolph County follows though with the plan. Activists are also scrambling to collect enough signatures to stop the effort before Friday, when the election board will make a final determination..Had the U.S. Supreme Court not gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013, the closures would most likely have been blocked by the Department of Justice.
But the method the county is using to justify the closures has generated less attention. Republican lawmakers and election administrators in Randolph County are not the first to use the federal Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), intended to protect the nation’s disabled communities, as a pretext to disenfranchise minority voters...
Georgia gubernatorial candidates Stacey Abrams, Left; and Brian Kemp in Atlanta. A predominantly black county in rural Georgia is facing a nationwide backlash over plans to close about 75% of its voting locations ahead of the November election. Officials have fired a consultant, Wed., Aug. 22, 2018, after widespread opposition to a proposal to close most polling places in a predominantly black Georgia county, the county’s lawyer said Thursday.
Randolph County lawyer Tommy Coleman gave The Associated Press a letter he sent Wed. to consultant Mike Malone ending the contract. (AP Photos/John Amis, File)
= new reply since forum marked as read
A person votes in the handicapped assisted booth at Bishop Leo E. O'Neil Youth Center November 4, 2014 in Manchester, New Hampshire. (Credit: Darren McCollester/Getty Images).
One polling place that is not ADA compliant. Credit: ACLU of Georgia.
Source, https://thinkprogress.org/ada-voter-suppression-cd7031080bfd/
no one could put lipstick on this pig.
and it's sad there is all this drama going on there. Hope the (D) can get elected and this has energized folks!
