What is especially galling is that Kemp ran a particularly disorganized, chaotic, incompetent election. Good luck with his competence as governor, ya’ll!
2
Your candidate lost because of her policies. The last resort of a scoundrel is to blame racism (and hypocrisy--I have yet to see a single Leftist condemn John James' loss in Michigan as racism). So, I will ask you, if Stacey Abrams' loss to Brian Kemp due "Neo Jim-Crow" was John James' lost to Debbie Stabenow in Michigan racism, or is it only racism when candidates you like lose?
Obama was mixed race with his father not even an American, so what are you talking about? Glad to see the results in Georgia!
I am Hispanic man here in GA, a transplant from CA. I have learned that to both blacks and whites in this state we are considered non people. I have received racial abuse from both blacks and whites. I voted for Abrams not because of her beliefs but because she was not promising to shoot all Hispanics in the state with a shotgun.
Looks like Kemp has declared himself the winner. Helps when you control the electoral process and do not care about the ethics from conflict of interest. How convenient.
As this racist, hate filled Trump Acolyte takes office, I hope blacks here in GA will remember we stood with you and help when they start rounding us up for their sorting camps. Would really appreciate the help.
6
Will companies such as Amazon ever really consider coming to Atlanta when this is the racial climate in Georgia? Brian Kemp should never have been allowed to make a mockery of the election. His corrupt behavior, and the fact that he appears to have got away with it, hurt not only minority voters: he has injured the reputation and economic potential of the state. Who wants to deal with this ugly backwardness? Seems like it's still 1950 in Georgia.
2
Nothing will change until blacks turn out to vote at higher rates than whites. They did it in Alabama to elect Doug Jones. They sat on their posteriors in southeast Florida to elect Trump acolyte Ron DeSantis as Governor.
Counties in Florida with large white retirement communities such as The Villages were in the top 10 counties for turnout. Counties with large numbers of blacks such as Miami-Dade were in the bottom 10.
Get it?
1
Lack of power cords is racist? Was the skin color of the person responsible for the power cords traced down, or was it just another opportunity to attach labels and spread hate toward others not like you? Agenda much?
Not only should a literacy test be required but a basic math and science and current events test should be given. A geography test requiring voters to find Afghanistan and Iran and Nigeria on a map should be required not only to vote but to hold office. Had we such a test our current president might not have been elected. Having poorly educated people vote is why we have such useless patronizing candidates. Yes in a republic not everyone should vote.
1
simple propaganda, and nothing more. there is a process to everything in life. want to fly on an airplane? want to rent a car? the polling place, just by virtue of an ugly history now half a century past, is not exempt from process. the idea that "people of color" are being systemically denied the vote in 2018 is, as stated, is simple propaganda and nothing more.
so I have no dog in this fight and don't know either candidate or their positions. I am a registered democrat in Maryland and I did see a piece about Mrs. Abrams unsecured debt in excess of $200k. Being a government employee with a Top Secret Clearance $200K would most likely prohibit me from maintaining my clearance. If this is a disqualifier for me it should be for her as well as any individual with that amount of unsecured debt regardless of race, religion, or any other category people may want to place others in. I think anyone with that much debt in public office is a ripe target for being bribed.
2
I really have a lot of respect for Stacy Abrams. She is tough and capable. To be honest I fear for her safety. There are a lot of really racist creeps down there. What she is doing in contesting and refusing to concede is exactly what a tough and capable politician should do. I think there is enough of a probability given Kemp's actions and obvious conflict of interests that there may be enough votes found to alter the outcome. No matter what happens, I salute Stacy Abrams. She is a true patriot and a great American.
2
What the writer of this piece fails to grasp (or at least to mention) is that it was the Democrats in the 60’s who were the ones who tried to stop blacks from voting (or being equal to whites for that matter. It’s in inconvenient truth as Al Gore would say. Making someone show an ID to vote is not discriminatory it’s wise so our elections can be trusted that only citizens are voting. I’m sorry for that the woman that you drove to the polls had a problem getting her ID out, but I am glad she had one! You could have encouraged her by telling her that the good news is that it wasn’t because of the color of her skin, it was because our leaders are trying to ensure her vote counts and isn’t cancelled out by a non- citizen. (Who by the way I’m sure you would have driven to the polls too had they not had to show ID.
This state is an embarrassment and a disgrace. This election in Georgia supports the negative stereotypes about the South and those who endorse this "way of life". I hope the good people in Georgia will take on Brian Kemp. He's a real beauty, aka, a crook.
2
"Neo-Jim Crow" is inflammatory hyperbole. The best way for improved bipartisanship is for people to tone down their exaggerated rhetoric. You're right; there are definitely aspects of the Georgia election that don't seem fair, but addressing them effectively probably can't even begin to happen when you, in effect, start the conversation by calling the other side Jim Crow racists. Is any of this sinking in?
The author conflates her hagiography of Obama with Owens; and likewise the conservative objection to Obama with the conservative objection to Owens.
I understand being a professor of ethnic studies might cause one to view everything through that lens. But really, it's not like that in the real world. I likewise lived through Jim Crow in the deep south. I saw the injustice. I recoiled at it, same as MLK did.
We worked to move past the point where people are judged by their skin. It has nothing to do with quality of candidate...or lack thereof. The constant indictment of racism is harmful to everyone in our culture--but especially poor blacks wanting to escape the never-ending cycle of finger-pointing.
1
Oh please, there’s been no crime here, no lies, it’s just a very tight race, everyone really needs to stop crying about everything and playing the victim.
No one stopping anyone from vote mg, you bring the proper paperwork, get to the polls or mail it in, then you’re all good, I don’t know why the left insists on making this process so complicated.
So moving forward anytime a black candidate loses an election, no matter what their positions on policies may be their loss is due to racism.
Shoddy piece that again scream racism where none exists. I am talking about the references to Obama.
There is this common theme used by many "reporters" to tie disagreeing with Obama to racism when it fact it has NOTHING to do with it. "You lie" was a direct comment on Obama basically, well, lying. CNN commonly writes stories on all of Trumps lies.
Folks tried to fight against the ACA no because Obama was black, but because they believe it to be, and still believe it to be, an entitlement monstrosity.
The Garland scenario had nothing to do with Obama being black, it had everything to do with the potentially changing the balance of the Supreme Court away from GOP norms.
When you use such foolish non-racist examples in a story that purports to be about racism, you lose all credibility.
If anyone ever claims that Donald Trump is "divisive", this article, and the thousands of others like it every day from the left are proof of where the real divisiveness is coming from. "Neo-Jim Crow". Not inflammatory demagoguery at all. No, none of that coming from the left. Constantly, through every media outlet, getting more and more extreme since the 1960s. And even the soft, easily manipulated, rich white people who've been cowed by it (because they don't know what's really going on) are starting to catch on to the game. The reason why the Democrats do this is because it's all they have. This twisted, circular firing squad of identity politics and "intersectionality".
It will either destroy the Democratic Party, or the country. I pray to God it's the former.
1
Stacy Abrams is a beacon of hope for all of us. May we always strive to uphold the ideals of our constitution. Our country is for all of us, not just "some" of us.
2
In addition to undoing voter suppression laws and Justice Roberts deeply needed education of the real world we should be passing laws that make it a felony with penalties of dollars and days per voter suppressed. $10 dollars and 1 day for each voter suppressed could translate to $530,000 and 53,000 days for each person guilty of comparing in the suppression of 53,000 voters.
1
Stacy Abrams and Brian Kemp were light years away from each other on almost all of the substantial issues in this election. These differences were apparent on budgetary matters, education, health care/medicaid, gun laws, criminal justice, immigration, religious freedom, abortion, and on and on.
Despite these many differences on the issues, this article concludes that voters in Georgia were motivated by the skin color of the candidates. That position is is wrong and uninformed. Stacy Abrams lost the election because she was simply perceived to be on the wrong side of too many important issues.
2
If you walk into a bank to withdraw money or make a deposit, you are required to show a government approved ID by law. No one ever considers that a form of "Neo-Jim Crow". Why would depositing a ballot in what amounts to the most important civic function in the society (i.e. voting) not be held to at least that standard? Additionally, the standards apply to everyone regardless of skin color or creed.
8
I am always amazed when people approach racism with the notion that the conversation must be about inclusion and not about addressing the disparity that inherent in at Ismaili; that thebelief that everyone is starting at the same point; that there is equal footing and equal access. When we begin talking inclusion, there seems to be the disappearance of the gulf that exists between races. Black folk are never on equal footing in America. Inclusion is a supposition based on understanding that one party needs to acknowledge that it must relinquish its privilege.
4
I have a question for Chief Justice John Roberts. Did your Shelby County decision live up your expectations in Georgia this year in helping Republicans steal elections? Did it operate as you intended?
17
@Steve All that decision did was remove the DoJ from being judge and jury, it is one of the most mis-represented decisions around. Voter discrimination is against the law and if it occurs lawsuits can be filed and decisions can be made in the proper place - the courts.
Before this decision was made we had unequal laws arbitrarily enforced by the executive branch of the government. If Alabama and South Dakota created the same exact voter law, the DoJ could stop it in Alabama but would be forced to use the courts against South Dakota.
Even if you still had the pre-clearance rules in place, it would be up to Sessions to decide what to do. He may very well have decided this was okay.
It is illegal to discriminate against voters based on race. The Shelby decision changed none of that. All it changed was the ability of the DoJ to circumvent the court system. No one should be okay with that. That decision was LONG overdue.
I voted for Joe Neguse to be my representative in my district in Colorado. He is a black man that is going to represent a district with almost zero black people. For a progressive district of rich white yuppies, this makes sense. I voted for him over the Asian-American Republican.
I would not have voted for Stacy Abrams. While I liked her spunk, her obsession with race and her attachment to illegal immigration really turned me off.
If I voted for Joe but I wouldnt have voted for Stacy, does that make me a monster? According to liberals the answer is yes. If you dont vote for every single black person on the ballot, you are a monster. Unless the black person is a Republican, in which case they are a race traitor.
The fact that her loss is immediately blamed on racism shows that the Democratic party has no other policy positions besides racial identity politics.
8
@Jacqueline. Did you see any of Kemps political ads. They were based on hate and race. I know you think every Hispanic is an illegal, break it to you, we are not. I am American if Hispanic heritage. Kemp wants to eradicate all of us just to be sure he gets all us. My vote was for self protection. He won anyway. Seems today hate always wins. So you get your wish. Will you cheer when the camps go up? Will you encourage rights being stripped from Americans because we are not you. Go on and hate. I guess it makes you feel safe.
2
It does not make you a monster.
What is does say is, that you probably have not spent time in the deep South. I recently spent time on the Georgia Coast. As beautiful as the country is, putting Atlanta aside it is as segregated and racist as 50 years ago.
3
@Jacqueline Among all demographic groups, the one most opposed to immigration, both illegal and legal, is African-Americans. Crazy how this stuff works. The Democrats rely on screaming at the top of their lungs, running around in circles to distract people from the actual issues.
As a seventy-six year old white guy, I agree with everything in this piece. Georgia should be ashamed and all Americans should be angry at the criminal and immoral way people of color have been and continue to be victimized and disrespected when they try to exercise fundamental rights.
23
Look, according to Project Vote 95% of whites have an ID and 87% of blacks do. There are 233 million white people in this country and 40 million black people. Therefore, 11.6 million white people cant vote because they dont have an ID. 5.2 million blacks cant vote because they dont have an ID. Therefore, voter ID laws affect more whites than blacks. It is not racism, its reality.
If 70% of the people who tried to vote and were denied are black, that doesn't mean racism is to blame. Abrams motivated more blacks to vote than ever before, and so you would expect a large increase in denials for black people. I believe the stats show that white people without IDs never even try to vote, and that voter ID laws are classist not racist.
Statistics are so twisted in these times, I'm just so tired of liberals yelling percentages they dont understand to me. Its racist because its 70%!!! That's proof and if you dont agree you are a racist bigot. It ONLY can be racism!!!
I think that racism is a problem, but in this case it's actually an issue of classism. I dont see rich black people having problems voting. I see POOR people of ALL races having problems voting.
10
@Jacqueline
Brilliant riposte. Can’t argue with the math.
3
11 million out of 233 million is roughly 5%
5 million out of 40 million is roughly 12%
Raw numbers tell one story. Rates tell another.
Can't argue with math.
These new voter ID laws were DESIGNED to have a bigger impact on one group of people.
If someone told you that a design defect in a car resulted in it being more than twice as likely to lose your leg in an accident, you would have no problem saying they should change the car design. The parallel is clear. Laws designed to reduce voting rates should be overturned and banished. That is what equal protection under law means.
6
@Brian "These new voter ID laws were DESIGNED to have a bigger impact on one group of people"
Maybe, but not by race, by party. When the GOP first proposed early voting a few decades ago the Dems fought tooth and nail against it because it enabled more older GOP leaning folks to vote.
And then we have personal responsibility. If you cannot do a few simple things to vote, you don't deserve to vote. It is not hard to fill out your ballot using your registered name, check your voter registration before you fill the form out. It is not hard to get an ID card. It is not hard to early vote (and I have no idea why folks stand in huge lines when they can early vote, in person, same process, more locations, in many states.)
Is voting going to be easier for some folks? Of course. But as long as it is not detrimentally difficult for the lowest common denominator, laws and restrictions are legal.
Is is harder to vote if you don't have an ID in certain states? Yep. Is it detrimentally hard if you don't? I can tell you in Texas it is not. All you need to do is fill out a provisional ballot and sign under penalty of perjury that everything you wrote down is true.
And yet folks complain about that even.
It reaches the point of an absurd argument.
1
Yes, she should never concede to Kemp. Kemp will have to work without concession from opponent. What he did deserves no congratulation.
16
It was obvious to anyone living in the Metro Atlanta that shenanigans were going on at the polls on Election Day. Three voting machines at a major park in downtown, voting machines arriving at polls with no electrical cords, over three hour waits to vote in multiple polls in mostly minority locations! It was a complete sham. Stacy should take Kemp to court for voter suppression!
20
@Connie Moore
The counties are responsible for determining the number of machines required, amd preparing them properly before Election Day. The state SOS Office has no direct say over how counties chose to set up for elections, or how they maintain their machines. County Commissions are independent entities and don’t answer to the SOS in those instances. Sue the county commission.
4
@Connie Moore Vote early to avoid mishaps that while reported in certain districts are typically distributed across all areas.
@Connie Moore That couldn't possibly be the result of incompetence on the part of people at those locations. No way.
"Neo-Jim Crow..."
Hmm...Anderson does not write about Abrams outraising Kemp with most of the money coming from out of state. Similar to Osoff earlier on, the outsized role of outside money backfired on Abrams who was promoting agendas inimical to many Georgians (sanctuary state, really?). So perhaps a bit more pragmatism and inclusion would have helped?
8
@Kai
And they forget that Abrams founded and headed The New Georgia Project who helped register 10s of thousands of voters. Many of whom were registered improperly according to Georgia voter laws, and were therefore purged. Voter suppression can take many forms.
3
What is the reason behind demonizing out of state money in a state that has been strangled into submission by white Republicans (I’m a white male, for the record)? When fairness and equal opportunity does not exist outside help is legit. President Johnson knew that.
1
Trump and his clones like Kemp don't care about democracy. All they care about is winning. Lindsey Graham (LOG) had it wrong. It's his own party that only wants to have power. At least now Trump will get a taste of what it's like to have a House that is not licking his boots. The right wing SCOTUS will have to decide several cases on voting issues. I doubt they will side with democracy either.
10
How does the Times not report on actual theft of Black votes in Georgia?
That this isn't smacked down by Our Courts is a travesty. Actual fascism, now, happening in clear sight. Astonishing.
12
As a Canadian, I can only shake my head in amazement. In my 40 years as a voting citizen, and having lived all over the country and in my younger days having done a few stints as a polling clerk, I have seen or experienced a delay of more than five minutes in casting a vote. Shortage of machines ... not possible ... we still use paper ballots. There's never a shortage of those. Computer hacking -- you can't, when the ballots are still counted by hand. We still get the results in two hours or less. And voter suppression isn't even a concept up here. I don't think it would be possible.
The American system -- to an outsider at least -- seems unnecessarily and suspiciously complicated. It's almost like you are begging for somebody to game the system.
13
@curious
After 2000 election, Democrats demanded electronic voting. Big mistake
2
They demanded abolition of hanging chads / lever machines. No machine at all would have been the sensible solution.
2
@curious You are a small country in comparison, 1/10 the size of the US. Paper ballots are in the dark ages, things go much faster and quicker with electronic ballots.
In the US, by specific constitutional right, the states are in control of voting regulations. Just how it is, a fact of life like it or not.
According to the website, in Canada I can vote with a library card and a utility bill. While not suppressive, that is ripe for voter fraud and abuse. Most folks in the US would shake their heads at such a system.
I have to question the memory of the 90 year old voter. The age had not been lowered to 18 until I, a now 66 year old, was about 20. So that lady would not have been able to vote until she was 21 back then.
1
@Ginger Does it really matter how old she was when she
could vote? I don't see that as a point in her memory.
3
@Ginger Prior to the 26th Amendment, voting ages were set by each state. Georgia lowered the voting age to 18 in 1943. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twenty-sixth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution See section on "Prior Legislation."
1
The Republican Party and 45 have now conclusively, positively absolutely, irrefutably, and incontrovertibly proved the basis of their electoral success on 6 November 2018: racial demagoguery, xenophobia, and anti immigrant intensity, playing the race/anti immigrant card, and persistently informing their now diminishing base that ‘they’ are better than ‘them’ due solely to their pale racial complexion. The tirade that Caucasian male privilege and Caucasian women were threatened if they didn’t flood to the polls is classic 1968 Southern Strategy. 45's grandiose, pathetically nuanced self serving press conference this morning only further substantiated this official position, coupled with the viciously incessant assault upon the media and the press, especially personally attacking CNN’s excellent reporter Jim Acosta simply because he pressed questions on the Mueller probe and potential federal indictments. To add insult to injury, the cowering miscreant went out of his way to denigrate and malign Black American female CNN reporter April Ryan, and the PBS black female reporter, all for their penetrating questions he refused to answer, resorting to a hastily quick shallow defense before the press by lashing out that the PBS reporter’s questions were somehow racists when inquiring of his nationalist identity statement. The racism spewing from the faucet of the short handed chief executive was on full display for America and the world to see. Who is the racist? 45 is Race matters.
23
What a sham of an election, with voter suppression in the open by a deeply conflicted secretary of state, that refused to step aside while a candidate for the governorship. Kemp won by cheating on all of us, assaulting the governor mansion like a crook, oblivious to the glaring injustice perpetrated by him...and the full support of devious Trump and his republican minions. Shame on them. And Jim Crow all over. This is not a democracy worth it's name, a republican kleptocracy instead. And worse, the laughingstock of the world. Do we still think we are the exceptional, and essential, nation, a shining beacon on the hill? Hardly.
16
Win, lose or draw this time, Stacey for President 2020.
In the meantime, keep fighting Jim Crow Kemp.
8
@interested reader
I don’t know how old you are but you will never live long enough to see a black female president, not in this country p
In Georgia, as well as many other places, Jim Crow, White Supremacy, and Anti-Semitism are the brands of our Republican party under Trump and the likes of Mitch McConnell. They don't bother to hide it anymore. What is most shameful is that they know they weren't going to win without "in your face" voter suppresion, gerrymandering and other dirty tricks. The emotion that's the basis for all this un-American behaviour is fear, fear at the realization that by the middle of this century, whites will no longer be in the majority. We will finally be a total multi-cultural society. It can't come soon enough.
13
What a whiner!
I thought it was supposed to be Trump who refused to accept the results of elections?
5
@JND. You think he accepts this one? Come on -- in Trumpland the only reason the Democrats won anything was because of all that "fake" news. How dare the big bad MSM not fall into line, like all those other good little sycophants that now constitute the little that remains of the "party of Lincoln".
Who, no doubt, is still spinning in his grave. Along with TDR, Eisenhower, Reagan, McCain, and every other dead Republican of conscious. There's no need to dig to know how Bush I and II feel.
6
How much time did Kemp spend in line to vote?
6
I am so enraged by stories like this.
Can we send the Army in to reestablish the reconstruction that was thwarted by Andrew Johnson?
12
Neo-Jim Crow will most likely win. What good are voting rights in a Democracy if politicians change them nonchalantly to ensure a win. What rights? What Democracy? Brian Kemp is our version of Putin, Erdogan, Sisi. In a normal world he should be disqualified but he will be the winner. What a sham! And he gets away with it.
15
I have lived in Georgia for 21 or my 43 years. I am proud that I no longer have to either secretly confess or whisper that I'm a Democrat (and have been since I started voting at age 18). I'm proud that my district voted "again for Jen" in GA 6 Senate.
I served as an official Poll Watcher, this year, and wow - that took a lot out of me. It was exhausting, and exhilarating, watching so many people vote. And then getting to see the very first unofficial vote totals!!!
I must disagree with all the people here from other states who say that they believe that Jim Crow is not alive and well. As someone here more eloquently said, his name is "JAMES Crow" now. He's all dressed up in soft racism. He would never say the "n" word, but he believes in "exact match" (well, as a woman who has been married, I can tell you all about the struggles of hyphenation and the DMV vs the Social Security Office). He has black friends! He works with black people! (But too many of them in the same place make it a "dark neighborhood" and "undesirable").
Bless your heart, Georgia. Someday, someday soon, we will win.
31
The exact match rule is ridiculous. The IRS easily figures out who you are for all your accounts (every year!), even if your name doesn't match exactly.
True patriots would celebrate our democracy by making it easier to vote, not harder.
15
“If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
—- David Frum
Trumpocracy: The Corruption of the American Republic
18
I dont see why having an ID to vote is so racist. I think it's more classist. I mean, do rich black people have trouble getting a drivers license? No. Only poor people have trouble getting licenses.
Since there are more poor white people than there are all black people in this nation, you could argue that this policy actually prevents more white people from voting. You could also argue that since black people are more likely to be poor, that really these laws disproportionately affect them on a percentage basis.
It's a matter of which perspective is more true in reality. While these laws hurt a larger PERCENTAGE of black people, they also hurt a larger NUMBER of white people.
I would argue that, in reality, the NUMBER of people affected is the most important number. All the people affected are poor, and the largest number of poor people is whites, although the percentage of all whites who are poor is smaller compared to the percentage of all blacks who are poor.
Statistics have become twisted. If more white people overall are denied the vote because they cant access IDs, then is that policy Neo-Jim Crow? Or is it just classist?
I would agree its racism if some rich black person with an ID was denied the vote. Since I dont see any rich people of any race having problems voting, I'm reluctant to call voter ID laws racist.
3
@Jacqueline, Did you read the article? "70 percent of the applicants kicked into electoral purgatory were African-American, including one of my colleagues, a faculty member at Emory University. " I'm guessing the African American faculty member at Emory University was not poor.
12
@Jacqueline
Didn't some R operative say he didn't care if some whites got hurt by restictive voter rules as long it limited non-white voting more...
8
@Jacqueline
In Georgia the population is 10,429,379 and is 60.8% white and 32.2% black.
https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/ga
The poverty by race is 9% for whites and 23% for blacks.
https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/
This means that whites under the poverty line make up 5.4% (570,695) of the population in Georgia whereas blacks under the poverty line make up 7.4% (772,399).
Therefore your statement is incorrect in the case of Georgia, even if true nationally.
Kemp stands approximately 13,000 votes above the 50% runoff line currently, and has a 63,000 vote lead overall. Therefore voter laws that depress the whole segment voter turnout equally still affect black votes unequally due to the population difference highlighted above. Yes white voters under the poverty line get affected too, but it is hard to see how the above facts weren’t known to those enacting this law when they did.
7
Thank you for the "for now" you ended with. Justice, rule of law, and fairness must be demanded no matter who sez they are in charge. The words here give me hope that the election is just step one and to keep on keeping on.
It's Kemp that has taken Georgia back in time, just as we were making progress. Stacey Abrams had lots of supporters from all backgrounds and ethnic groups. Kemp wasn't going to let it happen. He's Georgia's Trump, but let's not forget that Trump is from New York City and he one of the biggest racist around.
6
We never would support Trump in NY for political office - know him too well.
We have plenty of bigots here but no comparison to the South who own the system.
Republicans are a dying breed in NY and Northeast - we have two countries now.
4
This is not neo-Jim Crow, this grand Southern tradition has only been in remission the last few decades. It is the same old sorry, post-Civil War Jim Crow practiced by frightened white nationalists. The Oligarchy of the Old South is on the rise again via trump and his MAGA cultists. What they want is a return to the 1850s not the 1950s for the whole country. We dodged that bullet yesterday but make no mistake they will not go down without a fight. (Eyes on 2020.) The travesty of the Kemp led Georgia election fraud cannot be allowed to stand. One way or another the whole Georgia election needs to be redone without Jim Crow standing in the way of literally thousands of voters.
6
You just have to believe that these people don't care about history. Don't read history. But what will their children think about them when they do?
Ms. Anderson cannot, apparently, sort out the personal from the political. She typifies political maneuvering such as Senator McConnell's decision not to bring Merrick Garland before the Senate, or the Republican's ideological objection to the Affordable Care Act as "disrespect" to President Obama, presumably because he's an African-American. She believes, one has to assume, that anything but complete acquiescence to President Obama's, or any other African-American politician's program is racist. That this is a political strategy in itself to discourage opposition to any African-American politician's initiatives is clear, and acceptable as such, I guess, but at what price to the discourse?
4
@David Godinez: none of which addresses the obvious, widespread and apparently successful campaign to discourage and/or suppress the minority vote. You express an opinion, but (conveniently?) ignore the reality experienced by many minority voters at the polling booth. And what's the price to discourse when a significant number of American citizens are denied the chance to participate at all?
This is going to get very, very ugly. 1960s ugly. Or do you really expect people to hold still for this?
6
Unfortunately, it seems as though Brian Kemp's various methods of voter suppression have come through for him. He may "win" this election the way a lot of Republicans "win" elections, by using every dirty legal trick they can, but he won't change the future. Georgia is sliding into a purple shade, and it will turn blue eventually. It's not the old white South here anymore, and we are never going back.
10
The remarkable thing about ballot suppression and the republicans is that they do it so blatantly and in broad day light while making phony excuses about imaginary hordes of illegal voters tilting elections. All sensible people know they're lying but they lie anyway without shame. The GOP really has become the Party of Trump.
13
I was astounded when I saw that the large public school serving as my voting location in my highly-congested Atlanta neighborhood had only eight voting machines. The streets two blocks away, where my house sits, were crowded with voters' and/or would-be voters' cars, spillovers from the overcrowded school parking lot and driveway. At the slowest of times (based on the number of cars), I waited 25 minutes in a line of about 40 people waiting to vote.
With the Republican gubernatorial candidate also being in charge of yesterday's election in Georgia, the cards stacked against Ms. Abrams were perhaps insurmountable. Yet, though votes are still being counted, she, an African-American female, won approximately half (if not more than half, let's hope) of the votes for governor in a State with one of the most anti-black, anti-woman histories in the nation.
On the red/blue map highlighting how Georgia voters voted, the blue islands seem caught in a flood of red. That is deceptive. The blue islands, which now apparently represent half of Georgia voters, are the fastest growing areas in the State. Yesterday's election proves a blue tsunami is overtaking Georgia.
Ms. Abrams is smart, young and energetic. This white guy voted for her and hopes she hangs in this go around and comes back for the next one.
20
@GBarry
My polling place had 4. Not a problem.
When humans recognize others for ethics and intellect without placing labels on them, maybe then we can truly make our country great. I agree with Mr. Barry, I hope the voters who stood in line don’t give up. Keep voting time is on our side if we don’t give up.
1
The Good People of Georgia must file a massive CIVIL class action lawsuit against Brian Kemp for abusing his power while supposedly upholding OUR U.S. Constitution.
Please make his life so miserable that he will run back to where his ancestors came from.
17
So many comments about challenging voter suppression in court, but it's hard to know if that's naive optimism or a failure to recognize that the rule of law is over. Given that the Supreme Court itself is largely responsible for all this cheating I fear it's the latter.
18
Unfortunately, there is no clear fix for this situation. Given the Supreme Court's decision a few years ago watering down the Voting Rights Act, I wouldn't expect the courts to do anything about it. People just have to keep marching to the polls to exercise their constitutional right despite all attempts to dissuade them.
9
@citybumpkin The Georgia legislature changed the laws on matching ids. The Secretary of States office worked to enforce the law. A judge ruled that invalid, in at least some parts. This is how the system works and did work.
Now, who should be blamed?
The Georgia legislature that voted this in? (Where were the Democrats that day, anyway?) Or the Secretary of State who was doing his job?
It's really hard to blame one person out of many and a Secretary of State who defies the laws he is meant to uphold will quickly get into trouble.
2
"“Stacey Abrams is smart,” she said with a smile. “Just like Obama. Smart. And,” as the smile melted away, “they will hate her just as much.”"
I have been following Brian Kemp's brazen voter suppression laws throughout the run-up to the midterms.
What he did yesterday was despicable; I have no doubt that he was behind the various difficulties reported at many precincts.
About a month ago, I wrote from my perch in Massachusetts (which does not have voter suppression, thank God), that I thought not much had changed in Georgia and other southern states given what I was reading about Kemp.
I was roundly attacked by three people from Georgia who claimed that a new south" was no mirage, things were indeed changing, and my observations as an outsider were not helpful.
I'm sorry, but it does no good to deny reality. Stacey Abrams was a really good, really qualified and talented candidate--one with a long history of reaching across the aisle. I desperately wanted her to win.
And yet she was held back by someone who might as well have risen from the grave of a poll monitor during the Jim Crow era.
There may well be a "new south," but unfortunately it's still one governed by a confederate mentality as embodied in Brian Kemp. One that feels African Americans are unworthy not only to govern, but to vote.
35
@ChristineMc
I wonder how many qualified “white” voters who supported Abrams stayed home, no matter the rationale.
Too many elections all over the country have been given away by the stay-aways. The U.S is not “the leader of the ‘free world’ when it comes to voter turnout. It’s more like the laggard of the ‘free world.
5
@Melvyn Magree: I couldn't agree more. Our voter participation rates are a fraction of those in other democracies around the world.
I am a transplanted New Yorker who has lived in Atlanta since 2005. I was shocked when I first arrived and am still amazed by how much race dominates everything here. Everything. Is Tuesday’s election dodgy? Of course. Is the deck stacked against superb candidates like Stacey Abrams? Yes. Is Jim Crow alive and well in Georgia? Yes, and his current avatar is Brian Kemp.
55
A candidates' racial background is not relevant to me. The Abrams campaign was virtually promising Georgia as a "sanctuary" state for illegal immigrants.
I disagree with that; I disagree with Abrams saying that being an illegal immigrant should not be considered a crime in the state.
I do NOT think the Governor of any state should be appropriating the federal responsibility of determining immigration status.
I'm looking at principles and am paying attention to the way the candidates represent themselves to different groups - Abrams was not consistent and I found that to be concerning.
Illegal immigration is something I want handled correctly, not swept under the rug or simply tolerated. Abrams plan did not satisfy my interests.
24
@Margo
Nonetheless, voters who hold different positions than you on this issue should be allowed to vote.
The issue isn't immigration, but whether an organized attempt to prevent an American citizen from voting isn't a crime against Democracy.
If your side can't win elections fairly, then they shouldn't expect to win them at all.
72
@Matthew Carnicelli
Excellent rebuttal!
8
@Matthew Carnicelli Give me a list of the ones who were denied the vote and then we can discuss.
7
Thank you for this insightful piece.
Martin Luther King, Jr. took a page from Mahatma Gandhi whom I had the privilege and gift of seeing as an eight-year old. In a crowd of nearly 100,000 we sat in a huge field in Patna, Bihar, and sang hymns.
As a graduate student in Boston University I felt close to the spirit of Dr. King every time I walked past Marsh Chapel and more so when I tutored students at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Centre. The Negro spirituals I heard always reminded me of Gandhi's favourite hymns.
Gandhi had suffered indignities at the hands of South Africa's white masters even though he was a British-trained lawyer in his own rights. And, when Gandhi moved to India and took up the cause of the nation's freedom, he suffered imprisonment, and many beatings by the police. His acts of CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE or "Satyagraha" included spinning handloom fabric to boycott clothing from England, and a 240 mile march to the seaside to make sea salt, thereby circumventing the tax on salt.
It is time to remember Dr King, and Selma, and Birmingham and invoke the power of CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE to break the curse of Neo-Jim Crow.
There is no other way to confront White America with the spirit born of Thoreau's "Walden".
41
‘White’ America. Serious unconscious racism. Over half of ‘White’ America voted for Barack Obama. Should they be confronted? What of the millions of white contributors who supported Obama and Clinton? Are they on the Confrontation list?
Deepening American divisions based on skin color will not help us. Check your privilege.
It might seem incredible that, in an age of information and knowledge, that white supremacism can still prosper. This really shows the worth of studying history, psychology, anthropology etc. It’s not always science that explains everything.
Until the myth of white superiority is expunged from the American psyche, it will be perpetually an election issue. If, as it appears, the Georgia election has been rigged, it should be scrapped and rerun perhaps with international observers to ensure fairness.
23
What the NYTimes fails to admit - she could have easily won as a Republican.
11
@Chris
That is assuming she could actually win the Republican primary first. Looking at the polls before the 2018 primary runoff on RealClearPolitics, the voter composition of the likely voters was at least 85%-90% white. While I wish that didn’t play a factor, the reality is that gives her a steep uphill battle at best.
1
@Chris
If Stacy ran as an R with her progressive positions would she have gotten out of the primary? Because she generated excitment among non-traditional voters made her and her voters a threat.
the republican party under trump stands for misogyny, racism, and hate of anyone not white, male, straight, and christian of the variety of christian who hates anyone different from himself.
22
@true patriot Fortunately, it's a demographic which skews older. It grows weaker, one funeral at a time.
@Richard Lerner I'm trying to look on the bright side of the declining life expectancy of these angry white males....
1
This hatred and demonization of white people is really going to help get things on track, Dr Anderson. When your every waking moment is spent with,"White people do this to black people, white people do that," helps nobody. Which white people, all of them? That's like saying, "All black people do this....". Move on.
17
@BorisRoberts It’s identity politics at its finest. You get people to come out and vote by convincing them that they are disenfranchised. It’s similar to the whole Republicans are going to take away your Social Security farce.
6
@John
The Republicans admitted they were going to go after ‘entitlements’ after gifting the 1% with a huge tax cut. I guess that means they’re coming after Social Security.
11
@John When Mitch McConnell boasts that entitlements are next on the chopping block, what fools would not believe him? Oh...never mind.
3
This is a good article. I think most non black persons living in the US - be they Asian or Hispanic Americans - will never understand the discrimination against a black person. Unfortunately, Ms Abrams will probably not experience the kind of hatred that President Obama endured because she probably will "lost" the election by frauds against her.
Come to think of it President Obama probably "earned" the hatred from the GOP, not just the neo Jim Crow crowd. Not only that he is half black but eight years in the WH with not a single hint of scandal, personal or political, he made, and continues to make, the GOP office holders look bad!
25
The grotesque Jim Crow practices of years back, physical intimidation,lynching, and on and on, have been replaced by an “elegant” JAMES Crow,. This one can come into southern segregationist parlours, with genteelness and advance the same crushing agendas on African Americans.
These cruelties and injustices are easy to see, yet, in your southern former slave states,they remain. Some say the South, while losing the Civil War, is effectively winning the peace.
It might be time to re-examine the accuracy of your name,,,, the “United ?? States of America. The slave states might be best on their own.
10
@Brian No, the South is changing. The US is changing. Even Texas is changing. Trump might not like immigration but it's already happened. As a result, Atlanta is one of the most diverse cities in the country. Eventually the remainder of Georgia will catch up.
11
This country needs fair election procedures for ALL citizens in ALL states. Some states also make it easier to vote than other states. Since some politicians are not making the best decisions about voting rights in their states, we all need to stand up and demand change. Vote the people out who try to block your right to vote, adopt the systems that work from other states, protest to your legislature, and support candidates who will protect and enlarge your right to vote. And maybe someday the former Supreme Court will get back to protecting the rights of citizens, instead of corporations. For now, it’s up to us!
17
@JMC.
Unfortunately, the federal government can only at best mandate procedures for federal elections.
If you want to revisit the pandora's box of "States Rights" do so at your own peril.
It boggles my mind that a person running for office would be allowed to run the election. Isn't that what they do in other places like Russia? Oh yeah, never mind..
27
@NOLA GIRL There is a precedent for this in Georgia. At least one earlier seated Secretary of State in Georgia, Kathy Cox, ran for the position of Governor.
1
One of the priorities of the new congress needs to be the restoration of the Voting Rights Act, with hearings to provide a contemporary factual rebuttal of Justice Roberts' specious argument in Shelby.
Sadly, based on the persistent pattern of replies to this article, it appears blinders were handed out with the MAGA hats, so the democrats will have to push this legislation uphill against post-Republican Trumpists, Jim Crow apologists, and false equivalency whataboutists who are unwilling to even acknowledge the existence of institutional discrimination.
22
The South is still the South. LBJ saw the demise of the Democratic Party in the South when he pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Some things haven't changed since then. The now solid red South was solidly Democratic until that time. Racism is alive and well.
15
@debuci You did see how close Abrams got in Georgia? And how do you explain Mr. Trump, who is not exactly southern? Or the west? Or all those counties in the northeast that are not urban areas? Or Ohio? Racism is alive and well in the COUNTRY.
1
@debuci
There's no evidence that LBJ actually thought that:
https://capitalresearch.org/article/we-have-lost-the-south-for-a-generation-what-lyndon-johnson-said-or-would-have-said-if-only-he-had-said-it/
In any event, apparently you really liked the segregated South as it was controlled then by Democrats.
1
Hope the NYT is open minded enough to publish a polite request for debuci to correct our understanding of recent American history.
Hello debuci from Boston, MA:
Is it true that among all citizens of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, not a single vote has ever been cast for for a black candidate for governor of the Commonwealth?
And the Civil Rights movement: is it true that it was not initiated in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts? Or was it initiated in Georgia?
Also, is it true that the Boston Red Sox was the last team in professional baseball to hire black players?
And, is it true that Red Sox and Patriots fans are barred each year from ever attending another game because of taunting of black ball players?
Daryl
A white racist overseeing his own election for Governor against a black woman and purging black voters from the voting rolls, what could possibly go wrong? I'm a criminal and civil rights attorney, so the fact that this isn't a top news story doesn't surprise me in the least. Long before Trump blatant racism like this was willfully ignored, which is why the Voting Rights Act was so instrumental in curtailing systemic racism in American elections.
According to Chief Justice John Roberts in Shelby County v. Holder, "Blatantly discriminatory evasions of federal decrees are rare." Writing for the majority of the Supreme Court he effectively declared the end of racism in America. Who in the world gave him such authority? No one. It proved that all talk by Republicans about the evils of judicial activism was a pack of lies, a means to an end. As Justice Kagan put it during oral arguments, "We have the power now to decide whether racial discrimination has been solved? I did not think that fell within our bailiwick."
Roberts' assertion that racism was gone was galling given that support for his conclusion was publicly invalidated when he made it. If there's still any doubt, Brian Kemp has just proven it's as pervasive as ever. As Justice Ginsburg wrote in her scathing dissent, what the majority was doing was "like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet." Of course she was right, and now Blacks are subject to Jim Crow all over again.
41
The voting age was lowered from 21 to 18 by some states and finally all states. Therefore I believe the 90 year old you spoke of couldn't vote until she was 21. she was first eligible to vote in either 1949 or 1950.
2
@ggc
In 1943, Georgia became the first state in the nation to lower its voting age to 18.
That and more about the history of voting age in the US are at:
https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_age
Based on this and depending on the month in which they were born, a 90 year-old voter in Georgia could have been eligible to vote for the first time in 1946.
2
I'm sorry at the result and more than a little disturbed that Kemp's victory is tainted by his obvious lack of respect for the public he's sworn to serve. But I hope this isn't saying that it is important to take race and gender into account when deciding for whom to vote.
8
@Stevenz No, it's about the efforts of GOP Secretaries of State, targeted at non-white voters, to discourage and/or make it more difficult for them to vote. In majority-minority polling places, electronic voting booths were delivered without power cords. These things were not happening in majority-white districts.
18
@JR It’s the same rules for everyone. They aren’t different by race.
2
@John Clearly the rules are different for minorities and their voting facilities. If Ms. Abrams had overseen the election process, you would have an issue with that. If one can select which rules to enforce, one can affect the outcome.
4
Stacey Abrams lost the election a couple of weeks ago, when she came out in favor of illegal immigration. How could she and her team have thought that was a good idea? The rule is that 10 days to 2 weeks prior to election day, the candidate watches their mouth and doesn't go rogue. At best, the gains will be negligible and the harm can be enormous.
15
@Maggie Maggie is wrong. Stacey Abrams did NOT come out in favor of illegal immigration. That's just the kind of thing the GOP liars like to say, and folks who read the NYTimes but don't actually live here in Georgia are apt to believe it. Well, don't believe it.
20
@Boneisha Funny thing. I saw the ads. I saw the news reports. She sure did.
...and McConnell has the nerve (why am I still surprised) to warn against Democrats in the House "harassing" Trump. Despicable as usual. At least he has shown his card, the label he will try to adhere to opponents.
15
Wow, guess I shouldn't have expected any less from the NYT though. Funny this whole story is talking about Jim Crow, and flails it at the Republican party hoping it sticks and nobody notices. Let's get the facts straight here, Jim Crow was a product of the Democratic Party. Same with the KKK. All I see is another article placing blame on anything besides the fact the candidate lost on her own accord. Voter ID laws aren't suppressing anything, they are ensuring those who are eligible to vote can, and those who are not eligible cannot. Sounds pretty fair to me. Trying to pin the blame on Kemp for voting machines showing up without power cords etc is no different than trying to claim because somebody at McDonalds messed up and forgot to slap a piece of cheese on your burger. Her viewpoints didn't align with the majority in GA, that's why she lost. Not because she's black, not because she's a woman, it's because her viewpoints are not conducive to the values of those residing in the state.
19
@Tweeter83 those democrats are now the republican party. Same folks, same agenda
36
@Tweeter83
The old southern Democratic Party is now the Republican Party, but the views are the same, only more subtly done.
21
@Tweeter83
"In this election alone, Mr. Kemp had trapped 53,000 voter registration cards using exact match, and 70 percent of the applicants kicked into electoral purgatory were African-American..."
70 percent. Are we to believe that this was just an unfortunate and unintended result? That voter suppression of this segment of the population was accidental?
34
They don't even pretend not to be racists anymore.
They deny themselves their own healthcare just to hate black folk.
But we will press on...
Stacey, so many of us were rooting for you. And will continue to do so.
26
As a graduate of Emory University, this screed is embarrassing. Ms. Anderson doesn't name a SINGLE person in GA who was not allowed to vote. Not one.
15
@Jackie That’s because she doesn’t know of any. It’s all supposition. I am sure that a news organization somewhere will find one or a few, but that could very well happen in a Democratic State as well. There are never any concrete stats shared on number of people who were supposedly suppressed. This is because the percentage is not significant enough to sway the vast majority of elections.
7
@Jackie. That's the idea. There is no way to trace the effects.
5
@John
Likewise, the Reps never have evidence of voter fraud, just "it's happening out there..."
5
There needs to be a federal investigation about voter suppression in Georgia. This gubernatorial election is a complete fraud, perpetrated by Kemp. This story can NOT be allowed to die.
56
@Carter Joseph Yep, I'm sure Trump's new attorney general will get right on that.
1
I saw the election through the eyes of a Canadian Semite who had followed American politics for almost 60 years. I have lived in red and blue America and red and blue Canada.
I saw almost no policy discussion and the election was all about cultural, racial and religious identity with the media other than the foreign media talking about the elephant in the room.
British media took me inside the caravan where we saw what terrorism was all about . We saw the faces of men, women and children terrorized by forces that controlled their very existence.
Haaretz defended the vast majority of American Jewry from the empowered right wing of Israel who under the power of 18th century Jewish zealots seek to define Jewry under the narrowest and most specious of definition.
Here in Canada both French and English language media expressed the fears most Canadians feel when the person we are sleeping next to is no longer the trustworthy partner we have grown to love and respect.
Where America goes from here is not our business but for the moment we must make plans to escape the relationship that has made us dependant on a country who economic social and philosophical vision is not the vision we thought we shared.
There was no hint of policy in your election only the division we are trying to eradicate of an identity based on colour, creed and origin. Our citizenship is based on a singular identity of being only one people,we aren't totally there but it is our mystic quest.
13
@Memphrie et Moi
Sometimes I wonder if more lower 48 residents shouldn’t watch “Little Mosque on the Prairie”. It is a series that shows how diverse people of any “group” are, including a “right wing” radio commentator,
1
The right to vote is sacred, written in blood on the battlegrounds of the past.
Any attempt to interfere with the right to vote needs to be subjected to the highest criminal sanctions. Anything less is unforgivable.
14
@Jan I wonder how many people out there would fail to a produce a valid ID, fill out the paperwork properly, or not have transportation if they won Powerball or Mega Millions? The fact is that everyone can vote with minimal effort. Apparently that’s still too much for a handful of people who claim that someone may have been disenfranchised but cannot prove it.
4
When I saw the results coming in for Stacey Abrams and for Andrew Gillum, my gut reaction was "whites in Georgia and Florida just couldn't (or wouldn't) let a black person be Governor."
Racism whether it's voter suppression through Jim Crow laws or in the hearts of white people has been inflamed by Donald Trump's bigotry and white nationalism.
Beto O'Rourke - although not a "person of color" - represents Americans who reject Trump's bigotry and anti-immigrant stance. So not enough Texans voted for him to oust Cruz.
These three losses were heartbreaking. Much is left to be done before the elections of 2020 to right this ship.
17
What a racist and divisive opt-ed! Many of your points are incorrect or taken out of context. But what is really sad is how you make these comments without giving any attention to the other side of the story or any of the progress that has been made in our mix of elected officials in Georgia. People in Georgia don't hate Obama! You are way off on those comments. Sure there are extreme views everywhere but to suggest "us Georgians" hate Obama is just wrong. Get out of your glass bubble and actually talk to people! Your extreme views are just as bad or worse than anything coming from the far right. Just keep hiding behind racism rather than facing the facts about the credentials and views of the candidate. I expect more from Emory!
12
It appears the south has never gotten over the Civil War. Through my profession I have met many individuals who hail from southern states and all but one have faced racial discrimination from their place of birth. Not all are black! Some are Jews, Muslims, Hispanics etc.
Both my mixed race children were born in Miami Florida. I had to leave the state of Florida to seek the kind of non racial lifestyle I craved. I was constantly harassed by racist white people about my children. I wanted a better life for them. Thank God we have found that!
41
@randy sue
I knew a couple who came here for medical residency. They said the same thing after their first child was born. "I don't want my child to feel like he is the only brown person." There are plenty of brown people here but I knew what she meant. I can see how the son of Muslim doctors might feel a little isolated in Utah.
@Andy There is a difference between isolation, racial makeup and racism. Folks equate the these and they are not the same.
Culture also comes into play. To expand on your example, a black Mormon in Utah would probably feel less isolated than a white devout Catholic.
It is often worse in our easily offended highly PC society as it become much safer and easier to hang out in homogeneous groups so as to not have to worry about offending someone.
Brian Kemp, as a person, in his professional role, and as an example of a WE-THEY stakeholder, is a violator. Various conditions enable him to be personally unaccountable for the temporary and more permanent harms that he carries out. He uses words, transmuted into regulations, to shamelessly implement his daily violating. The words used by people who want to make needed changes are from the same alphabet. But these people are powerless! in part, perhaps, because many of a diverse US, "brake" our thoughts and feelings about saying and doing things which we would feel ashamed of. And if there is any merit to this possibility a paradox of unintended passive-complicity is created. Words, whatever their semantic meanings, moral underpinnings, dimensional implications and actual/potential consequences are not the IT which they were created to represent. Explain. Describe. Answer. Question. Kemp's DOINGS aren't only anchored by legal semantics. They are rooted in traditions and behaviors of violating "the other." Lives. Limbs. Traumatized. Psyches.The United States, with its diverse populations, ethnic groups,cultures,united by and large semantically, wrote its unification-as-NATION (Constitution, etc.) after DOINGS and winnings. WORDS alone were not the bridge to nationhood. Words alone, whatever their inherent of projected valences + -/+ -,will not rid this nation of violating menschlichkeit, and equitable sharing of human and nonhuman resources, critical for well being.
4
There will be a runoff. Who will enforce fair voting, such as the proper number of voting machines, for that?
12
@Barbara Fu It appears there are a large number of voting machines in one county wrapped in plastic, unusable, because of a pending court case. But, you know, the county allocated voting machines and clearly there is not an easy way for them to accurately plan for voter turnout. Plus, these counties don't seem to be able to correct the situation without a huge fuss. It is the county responsibility.
Who is responsible where you live?
Georgia has established itself as Racist State Number One. If Stacey Abrams manages to win, after all, it will be a stirring testament to the will and fortitude of the African American voters who faced obstacles unknown to most of their white counterparts.
Nonetheless, the time has come for whites to stop seeing racism a problem for black people only, and realize it hurts them as well. This election has been a case in point, as whites gave 74 percent of their votes to a cheater and a liar, a man of bad character, and not because he would be a better governor. Kemp will be a corrupt governor, as his character is corrupt, and his actions will impact all the ordinary citizens of Georgia, regardless of race.
Until Civil Rights and Voting Rights somehow become priorities for white people as well as black, institutional racism will continue to fester in Georgia and other red states, and democracy will further erode.
23
After briefly logging on to Facebook, late last night, I decided to stay away for (another) week because I couldn't stand my friends' self-righteous outrage at the supposed racism that defeated Abrams. I certainly don't think like the voters of Georgia or Florida. And to me it's blatantly obvious that Kemp and DiSantis are both ignorant creeps cut from the same mold as their party's leader.
ANY candidate who wants to be elected to major office has reflect the opinions of the majority of the electorate. That a black man could be elected senator from the most Southern of states, South Carolina, shows that this whole "Jim Crow" idea is inaccurate. But Sen. Scott is ultra-conservative. Anyone who leans to the left as heavily as Abrams or Gillum did would be defeated in the Deep South.
That a candidate as attractive as Beto O'Rourke couldn't defeat one as unattractive as Ted Cruz proves that race had nothing to do with these races.
9
@HKGuy As a white person living in Atlanta, I can tell you that racism has everything to do with voter suppression efforts in Georgia. As demographics change in the state, Republicans cannot win without suppressing the vote. Voters had to contend with voter suppression and a relentless barrage of negative and untruthful campaign ads that were designed to scare voters about Abrams "leftist" tendencies. But Abrams has worked successfully in the Georgia legislature for 10 years and she knows how to work with Republicans. She is not too leftist for Georgia, and she is still in the race. We're still counting votes here, and Florida is too. Georgia is very close to a run-off.
19
From my perspective, Stacy, Gillum and Beto were CLERLY better candidates than the people they ran against. They were all able to articulate their vision in a clear and specific way. As I listened to Kemp for instance, it seemed I was listening to someone talking as if it was 1960 or 1964, with limited vision for the state.
20
One correction, a ninety year old could not have voted in every election since she was eighteen as the twenty-sixth amendment lowering the age to that figure was only ratified in July, 1971. Before that it was twenty one.
4
@James Murray
The voting age varied by state prior to the 26th amendment. The 26th amendment just standardized it. Just like some states allowed women to vote prior to the 19th amendment.
6
Regarding voting in Atlanta - for early voting I drove to two nearby spots and circled in traffic trying to find a place to park. I ended up driving outside the perimeter to a suburban spot the next day. Why can't early voting places be near MARTA train stops? Not everyone has the luxury of driving (as we see by the number of comments from people who volunteered to drive voters to the polls). Are we trying to restrict voting to people who have cars?
Apparently we are.
15
@S.K. Not having a car is more of an impediment to voting in rural Republican districts where public transportation is not available. Atlanta has public transportation to get people to voting precincts.
7
@S.K
Vote absentee. You don’t have to leave your residence.
5
@S.K.
Just mail in your early ballot. Boom. Done.
It is fiscally impossible to open and staff early voting locations in the same number as there are polling places.
6
Ms. Abrams may have lost the election because she is black, or because African Americans, at least some of them may have been discouraged from voting, or because white voters exercised their franchise solely on the basis of ethnic identity. Likely we won't find out which if any of these factors played a significant role in her defeat. Racists are unlikely to own up to their motives for casting a vote against her.
Of course, it's entirely possible that her way left of center campaign, and her identity politics, ticked off a significant segment of voters, whose preference was a more centrist candidate. Easy enough for the loser to ascribe her loss to dirty pool or racism. Bottom line, her campaign went off the rail.
7
I do not think this article says that everyone who voted for Kemp is a racist. What it says is that way too many black people were not allowed to vote; that polling stations were difficult for blacks to reach; and that the voting station with the power cord issue just happened to be one where a lot of blacks voted. All black voters are asking here is to be treated equally, to be allowed to vote, and for their votes to count. What other developed country actually discourages universal enfranchisement?
6
I'm a Georgia voter, and I voted for Kemp. When I compared the stances on issues by the two candidates, Kemp was more in line with my views. It bothers me that people outside of my state say that my vote was racially motivated. I have been inundated with articles, adds, and news stories about the need for Abrams to be governor due to the fact that she would be the first African American female governor. Many of these entities and a vast sum of her contributions came from outside of our state. Even my own child told me I should vote for her because of this reason. My response to my child was to ask if she wanted me to vote for someone based on their race or their gender. That is what sounds racist to me. What is sad is that the majority of people who voted in this election probably could not tell you any stance by either candidate.
I look forward to our state having a black and/or female as a governor, but my vote will be based on their stances on issues. I hope that people who voted for Abrams can say the same thing.
23
@Mark What you should have done was vote for the candidate who wasn't trying to restrict anyone's ability to vote. Kemp went after minority voters he could disenfranchise right now. How long do you really think it's going to be before you're in the group he goes after next? When a man tells you who he is, believe him.
24
@Mark You realize that this article had nothing to do with you right? The author would, I am sure, support your right to vote for the candidate whose positions match yours. This article is about constructing an election system intended to prevent certain people from voting for the candidate they prefer. Your candidate, Mr. Kemp, with the help of the Georgia Legislature, created an election system that is intended to and does in fact deny blacks, hispanics, and Democrats the right to choose the candidate they support.
22
Kemp ran a racist campaign. And, though I live in California now, I spent decades living in the South. I know racist when I see it/hear it. And, if you vote for someone who relies on racist robo calls, active voter suppression of minorities and rhetoric, you are supporting and encouraging that behavior. Period.
18
This is an excellent Op-Ed, and it cuts to the heart of what is possibly the most important issue of democracy in our time.
My one nitpick: the section of the VRA that required states who have a history of suppressing minority voting rights to gain federal approval before making changes to their electoral process, the section that the supreme court struck down in 2013, is not section 4, but section 5.
Again, I applaud this article. If we cannot repair our broken (and yes, if Kemp is any indicator it is broken) democracy and protect and ensure voting rights then we are doomed.
11
I live in a predominantly African-American voting district in downtown Atlanta. I showed up at 7 am on Election Day and there were four voting machines at the polling location. I have voted at this location for a decade and there are usually about 12 or more machines, depending on the type of election. This is a heavily populated downtown district.
Later I started asking coworkers and friends who live in whiter, more conservative and/or more rural districts. Some had 30 machines at their disposal!!
I am not a believer in conspiracy theories but this anomaly has made me sit up and wonder!!!!
359
@Susan You should believe in conspiracies when they are true.
39
@Susan I live in the 6th congressional district in DeKalb County, a true melting pot that spans the socioeconomic spectrum, from insular immigrant communities to extremely wealthy enclaves. It took me four tries to vote. I went twice last week to vote early only to turn away from 45+ min waits. I went Tuesday morning in the pouring rain only to encounter an even longer wait. Finally, at 3pm Tuesday afternoon I cast my vote. And I might add that the number of voting machines in my precinct were the same as they have been for the past 25 years.
I offer all of this because I think that the polarization of our country has produced this carcinogenic sense of mistrust - I am right and you are wrong and if I lost I must have been cheated. Everyone lawyers up and cries foul rather than to accept the fact that they simply lost in an election that serves as testament to just how divided out country is.
The fact of the matter is that a record number of Georgians exercised their constitutional right to vote yesterday. What's more, they were offered weeks of early voting opportunities to do so and more importantly, in the few instances were there were glitches - mostly in precincts that heavily favored the democrats, Judges stepped in to insure that the polling places stay open as late as 10pm.
The bottom line is that this constant litany of being wronged is nothing more than sour grapes - the inability or unwillingness to accept the fact that one (Hilary, Handle, Abrams...) lost.
6
@Simple Truth
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you. Sometimes that feeling of being persecuted and discriminated against is just recognizing reality.
38
Thanks for this. Any waiting line to vote, on a working weekday, is pathetic. Elections should be on weekends, by mail, etc. In many ways the US remains a 19th century political animal instead of 21st century, and lines at the polls, plus the voter registration purges, illustrate that. The SCOTUS decision in 2013 was a ridiculous usurpation of Congressional authority, invalidating a recent Congressional vote to continue the Federal rules - it was a law-making action, not a law-interpreting action - something an "activist" court would do instead of a "conservative" court, which is what "conservatives" should give us. Thanks to Ms. Abrams and all those who supported her candidacy, win or lose. Eventually even the GOP might get dragged into the 21st century , both technology-wise and policy-wise, kicking and screaming no doubt.
8
Those Georgia statutes apply to everyone. How are they discriminatory?
19
@Bobo
Because the Democrat lost.
11
@Bobo
Is it just coincidence then that the vast majority of people purged from the voter rolls under the statutes happen to be black?
The statutes themselves are ridiculous barriers not intended to promote voting but to repress it in general which is obvious on the face of it. The lame excuse was to prevent non-existent voter fraud, fraud which was a fantasy dreamed up to justify the statute.
I'm sure you would feel quite differently if your own vote was disallowed because of a typo somewhere along the line after you'd been voting at the same place with all the same info for decades.
16
@Bobo That's not the right question. How are the necessary? What problem are they fixing? Could that problem be fixed another way that does not throw out disproportionate minority voters. When DelRio on your voter registration doesn't match the Del Rio on your drivers' license but the address, race, etc, all matches, your vote shouldn't be thrown out. But it will be under exact match. In-person voter fraud is not an issue. Something like 3 documented cases out of 1 billion votes cast. They are using a sledgehammer to kill a flea and in the process demolishing precious rights. All because they know they will cull out minority voters. They have admitted it.
26
Voter suppression reached levels here in Georgia that were horrific.
53,000 absentee ballots tossed as “signatures didn’t match.” I’m a white 71 y/o woman with 12 letters in my last name. Anymore I sign four letters then a squiggle. So they threw it out!
I walked in yesterday with an “How DARE you STEAL my vote?” They backed down and allowed me to vote again...I had voted 5 weeks ago when the ballot first came in the mail.
But I’m white. I am CERTAIN that a black person would have been arrested.
The slow drip, drip, drip of racism EVERY day is relentless. 7 of 9 polling places closed in Gwinnett County.
Purge? "One evening in July 2017, computers at the Georgia Secretary of State’s office were set to a monumental task. Through the night, they would sift through a list of 6.6 million registered voters, seeking out those who didn’t belong.
The Sec’y of State IS Brian Kemp who oversees elections AND running for governor at same time.
By dawn, more than 500,000 people were registered no more.” Largest PURGE EVER!
Georgia has systematically enacted some of the strictest voting laws in the nation over the past two decades. While officials say the laws are aimed at preventing election fraud, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights says no state has done more than Georgia in recent years to make voting difficult, especially for minorities.”
https://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/voter-purge-begs-question-what-the-matter-with-georgia/YAFvuk3Bu95kJIMaDiDFqJ/
48
@Nuschler
Amen. I live here, too, and you said it best. It's a slow drip.
1
I need to share what the Feds and Texas did to go after Democrat Beto O’Rourke.
On Tuesday, Election Day, Border Patrol officials in El Paso canceled a “crowd control exercise” planned near a border bridge in the historic Chihuahuita neighborhood a half hour before it was scheduled to begin. El Paso is home to Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic challenger to Sen. Ted Cruz in one of the country’s most closely watched races.
A Border Patrol spokesman said the “joint caravan-related exercise” was postponed “out of an abundance of caution” and “due to inaccurate reporting that caused unneeded confusion in border communities.”
“We will continue training exercises in the following days as necessary to ensure border security,” the spokesman said in a statement.”
https://www.heraldcourier.com/news/national/caravan-related-exercise-on-the-texas-border-canceled-because-of/article_22915bdf-9ad7-5fe5-8337-071aeed34e8b.html
Can you even IMAGINE the terror of ANY person much less being “brown” to see full scale training exercises by Border Patrol for the “Caravan” as you’re waiting outside 4 hours to vote?
Worst problems now according to our active duty troops are “civilians” strapped to the teeth with bandoleers of hollow points and assault weapons with an “order” from Trump to treat rock throwing as rifle fire. Our troops are VERY unhappy.
Trump is striking out in a news conference now. He’s angry and calling for war against Democrats who try to impeach him!
Armageddon!
7
@Nuschler
These old and young white people who shoot up the houses of worship will now have to deal with the Democrats and the wave of people who went out to vote yesterday. Social media isn't good for to many activities but it can have us at site in a moments notice when racial back up support is needed. No one needs to stand alone against the forces of hate
2
Enjoyed article, but 90 yr old lady could not have been voting since she was 18 yrs old. First election for citizens 18 yrs old to vote was 1972. My first year to vote. I was 20 yrs old, I am now 66 yrs old.
1
@Donnie L. Branche Georgia passed a statute in 1943 making the voting age 18. So, our 90 year old, being born in 1927 or 1928 would have been able to vote when she turned 18 in 1945 or 1946.
2
@Donnie L. Branche 18-year-olds have been able to vote in Georgia since 1942. My mother, who would have been ninety-four this year, was the first 18-year-old to register to vote in our little county. This is one of the very few ways in which Georgia was ahead of most of the rest of the country.
@Horace
Georgia was the first state to lower the voting age to 18, in 1943.
However, that was only for *state and local elections*, not national contests.
It took the 26th Amendment in 1971 to let all 18 year olds vote, even 18 year old Georgians in presidential elections.
1
As the GOP turns into an openly and aggressively ethno-nationalist illiberal right-wing party while "Caucasian majorities"become less and less likely we will see Republican Jim Crow policies rise with a vengeance. This assualt on civil rights and the Constitution must be met with all force - lawsuits, protest, direct action. A Democratic President might have to send the National Guard into some Southern Herrenvolk democracies once again in the future.
11
How is there not a full blown democratic crisis in the US?!
9
@G.O. This is because people tend to exaggerate when they lose. The number of people not voting due to “suppression” is minuscule.
3
@G.O.
Because we are a democracy, where a Bernie or an Abrams who is too fringe left doesn't get the votes - especially of the sane center.
@G.O. That's a really good question and the answers are many. We haven't gotten to the tipping point yet. One side has, at best, pocket-knives and the other side has AR-15s and AK-47s. One side tends toward internalizing guilt and the other side tends toward blaming others. Those who are truly suffering aren't suffering quite enough to rebel. It is too hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys and we really don't want a guerilla-based civil war.
1
Nothing to do with the political dialectic: Classic Marcuse--Neo-Marxism hailing Neo-Jim Crow. Doesn't get better.
3
Ms. Abrams should run for Georgia AG. Or even
higher office.
8
@jahnay
Abrams' goal was governor and then U.S. president. Likely still is. The gov slot is the steadiest and surest track in all 50 states.
This is exactly how I feel and I'm looking at it through the eyes of a white person. I can't believe that so many people voted for this man. Maybe they believed Trump's claim that Abrams was "not qualified." Disgusting.
10
@west -of-the-river
A president who is not qualified calling someone else who went to Yale on there own grades not? legacy boy like Trump who cant even read should just keep his lying mouth shut. Ms. Waters is going to be more than he can handle.
3
It is shocking how willing so many Georgians are to vote for such a grossly ethically challenged person to lead their state.
This says a lot about far too many Georgians.
12
A white man can steal and election and face no consequences. White men can crash the global economy and not a single one of them go to jail. An ignorant, inarticulate, admitted sexual-assaulter can become president and not be held accountable for daily lies, threats, and hate-spewing.
But African-American's an women? They better walk the straight and narrow. And they'd better "act white" or be bossy. Then we say "you lie" and "lock her up."
15
That didn't take long. The NY Times blaming racism for an election lost by a black progressive. I'm sure the voters of Michigan are racist for not voting for African American John James (R) for Senate and the voters of Utah are racist for spoiling Haitian American congresswoman Mia Love's (R) re-election. Any Jim Crow stories on these two races coming up? Or will just continue to race bait and call everyone that doesn't vote for a progressive a "RACIST"?
15
@Hank Thomas Read the story. It wasn't about any of that. It was about voter suppression. And, I live in Michigan and can tell you people didn't vote for John James because he is a Trumpkin. I usually vote Republican, and might have voted for James if he didn't kiss Trump's ring, support 20 assault rifles in every closet, and want to force women to carry their rapist's baby. Those things disqualify anyone for public office, or any position of responsibility.
2
@Hank Thomas
Perhaps you would be willing to support your allegations with substantive examples of voter suppression in Michigan and Utah which prevented large numbers of African Americans from voting for the candidates you mention. Or did you miss that part of the article?
It is exactly comments such as these which reveal the unwillingness and inability of some people to even acknowledge the reality that racism and voter suppression still exist. Probably some voters in both Michigan and Utah are racist, by the way - I wouldn't doubt it. That doesn't make your conclusions any more valid.
1
@Hank Thomas
Well if you are a racist that is who you are. America is based on racism and that is just a fact. Be proud of it because we have a racist president and the white swamp kingdom. Jared Krushner is a racist and I didn't need to have the NYT tell me. His actions in housing spoke loud and clear
2
I am a really nice and kind person. On one-to-one encounters I have been able to communicate well with all kinds of people even typical white racist men. This time around I find myself harboring ill will to the angry white male voter and imagine all kinds of terrible outcomes for them. Americans have good reason to be angry but they don't understand that today Republican votes are digging them deeper into the impossible swamp that American life has become.
9
Oh yes. Moved down here a few years ago.
Big, big haters in GA, SC. Really unbelievable in many ways. You feel like you're in a completely different country.
First I thought it was the heat that drove them nuts. Then I figured they really resented losing the war (Civil War). Then I thought it was a general lack of education. Now I just don't know.
23
@Tom I lived in georgia (Perry) for 40 years and moved to Arizona this year. Watching this election, (I was still registered to vote in Ga but voted in Arizona as I should) I now understand many of my frustrations with especially native born Georgians, You nailed it right. Thank you. Moving out of Georgia was a good move for me.
4
I was with an African-American man on election night 2008 when we learned that Barack Obama had won. He Mom called and we heard he say to her “It’s true, Momma. Yes, he won, it’s true.” I still cry thinking about.
And then the Birtherism began (with Donald Trump leading the way) and the hundreds of insults hurled and whispered about him and his lovely family. I thought his election was the end of racism- I still believe it was the beginning of the end. The racists are fighting to hold on - again with Donald Trump leading the way. But their days are numbered with folks like Stacy Abrams leading the way.
6
I live in the city of Atlanta via NYC. It took me no more than 15 minutes to get into the polling station, vote and leave. While I know that there were issues at some other polling stations, I, and many people I know, had none. I don't know if this was due to voter suppression or downright incompetence. Frankly, I would my money on the latter vs. the former, but maybe I'm just naive.
7
If you asked a random sampling of 1000 American adults across nation the question: "What is Jim Crow?" I sincerely believe that very few would know the answer, and when told what that era after the Civil War entailed, I doubt they would care that Jim Crow style racism--both hideous and heartbreaking, is still brewing hard and fast, and at the command of the president himself. Our cultural incompetency in the face of Trump's virulent nationalism and clear racism is stunning and will continue to hurt us badly. Evidently, we still have a lot of trials to go through as we stumble toward equality, all entirely of our own stubborn doing. We will reap what we have sown--no more, no less.
10
@Andie The Jim Crow era was a travesty. We are not living through those times. Voter turnout is extremely high for a midterm election. If this is suppression then there will be 100% turnout if Democrats get the state, right?
4
The fact of the matter is that a proportion of the self-identifying white and straight population within the United States -- somewhere in the region of 40 to 50% -- are simply unable to accept the premise that any person of color (or of a non-straight sexual orientation) can ever be a "real" American, with the right to purse all the economic, social and political privileges which traditional America takes for granted. What is baffling is the expectation that all those "non-Americans" should be content with this situation.
6
The Democrats ran a very progressive candidate in the wrong place. Really? She called for gun control in Georgia! She lost because of her position and not because of Neo- Jim crow.
28
@Bian
I listened to her and she called for adult gun control. She lost because of the color of her skin. No one wants anyone's guns that is the white myth generated by white men and white women. Just call yourself a racist and a supporter of Jim Crow tactics. White is no longer right.
12
@Bian She called for control of assault weapons. she clearly and frequently stated she was a gun owner
13
@Bian I thought it was still too early to call. Why are you suggesting that she lost?
4
How do you get FOX attention on this matter? They are in control of politics right now. Make it funny, not violent. Of course they will try to avoid the topic, but if someone can come up with enough entertainment value that lights up the issue, money is what talks to them.
Youtube comic video, demonstrations of voters who couldn't vote in clown suits
1
@Sharon
One channel? Would you trade the influence of the Times, network news, network comics, network programming, movies, CNN, MSNBC for Fox News? I doubt it
1
To John Roberts and his fellow right wing Supreme Court Justices-
Kemp's unethical and unconstitutional shenanigans are made possible by you! You decided that the southern states who were discriminating against voters of color by way of JimCrow laws and practices had cleaned up there collective acts and were no longer in need of Federal oversight - which you then lifted by way of Shelby County v. Holder. Brian Kemp is here to prove you wrong, once again ( See North Carolina discriminatory practices in the 2016 elections). Shame on all of you. I hope Brian Kemp spends his entire illigitimaite governorship in court losing lawsuits brought by voters rights groups.
19
@Alex MacDonald
And by the way, while we're on the subject of right wing justices . . .
Somebody needs to explain to me in words of one syllable why the Supreme Court's throwing out of a law because "it was no longer necessary" does not constitute judicial activism.
I thought it was the responsibility of legislatures to throw out obsolete laws.
15
Greg Palast has been banging the voter disenfranchisement drum since Katherine Harris and Jeb Bush used a contractor to incorrectly scrub thousands of Democrats from the rolls.
However, he was confronted with tremendously blind patriotism after 9/11 (somewhat understandably). No American media outlet of any size would touch the issue. It was Dan Rather's "burning tire necklace."
Now, Republicans like Kemp and Kobach have been emboldened. There was no accountabiltiy after Florida 2000 and Ohio 2004. What else would you expect?
11
I too drove people to the polls in Georgia yesterday and witnessed the state’s system of voting that, compared to where I live (Washington State), is antiquated and blatant in its design to confuse and discourage, more than any others, the poor and minorities.
One of my riders pressed and pressed with her poll staff to file a provisional ballot. She has 72 hours to get a new ID (she lost recently in a life-threatening medical emergency) to allow her vote to be counted. Who has the luxury to do this in 72 hours? Not the woman I drove who doesn’t have a car and lives in Covington where there is no public transportation.
It should be as simple as allowing all registered voters to vote by mail. In comparison to what I witnessed yesterday in Georgia, I received my ballot 2 weeks ago, a week after receiving the state’s voters’ pamphlet. I spent a week reading up on the candidates and initiatives at my leisure before completing the ballot and putting it in the mail POSTAGE PAID. I then confirmed on the Secretary of State’s site a week later my ballot was received, signature verified and counted.
I ask rhetorically: why is voting so hard in Georgia?
38
Unlike Washington State, Georgia has a heritage of poverty and illiteracy going back to Reconstruction. I know it seems strange to you coming from Washington State, but this is the way it has been in the South for 150 years. Welcome to a different part of the country.
6
@e Coli
We have arrived at the death rattle of racism and they just cant move forward. When their politicians put no money into education what can you expect but ignorant racist. T
5
@Bobo
Has anyone looked into the causes of poverty and illiteracy in Georgia?
3
The most disturbing take-away of Election Day is how profoundly, utterly racist this country remains. It hurts my soul, and depresses me to no end to see the extent to which hatred has festered and strengthened under Trump. Abrams is passionate, smart and a sign of things to come, as is Beto O'Rourke. All the gerrymandering, voter suppression, Secretary of State shenanigans, and entrenched racism can't change the fact that in a few short years, our nation will be more colorful and diverse than ever, and we will all need to learn to get along.
42
@Allison This attitude drives me nuts! As MANY articles in liberal outlets like the Atlantic have pointed out, O'Rourke ran a campaign aimed at media, donors and everyone except the voters in Texas.
6
There should be an international outcry over the Republican-crafted voting disgrace in Georgia. Designed solely to make voting difficult to impossible particularly for African-Americans and minorities and combined with blatant gerrymandering, my state is running elections that would be the envy of third-world dictators. The illegitimacy of yesterday's results in Georgia need to be shared with the country and world.
The architect and enforcer of voting suppression is Brian Kemp, the shotgun-toting Republican soon to be Georgia's next governor.
30
Remember, this is how Bush won Florida in 2000.
Forget the Supreme Court, butterfly ballots, and the rest. Katherine Harris was Sec'y of State and Bush's campaign co-chair in Florida. (Jeb, of course, was governor.) And Harris oversaw the deletion of tens of thousands of legitimate black voters' names from the rolls.
Without that effort, Gore would have won Florida easily, no recount necessary. Voter suppression was on the rise long before the Trump era.
45
I cant stand someone that loses but wont admit it. Bad sportmanship.
11
Its only bad sportsmanship if the game was fair. It clearly wasn’t when one of the contestants could game the rules.
14
@Teresa
The state legislature and governor of Georgia did all they could to make voting as difficult as possible.
Do you consider that to be "good sportsmanship"?
11
@Teresa I can't stand someone who seeks to win by lying, bullying and sending polling machines without power cords to districts they know might vote against them. Really bad sportsmanship.
4
In 2012 I had an Obama-Biden sticker on my car. Several times I was harassed by other drivers, from the one-finger salute to pulling up alongside my car and cursing at me through my open window. Each time the culprit was an older (50 ) white man, boiling with rage. And that rage didn’t come from disagreements over policy decisions, but rather a visceral hatred that Obama himself didn’t look like them — or the idea of what an American president “should” look like.
A few weeks ago I proudly voted for Stacey Abrams and a straight Democratic ticket because I’m fed up with the rage-filled older white guys continuing to believe that this nation is their clubhouse and that they get to determine who gets invited in. I am holding out hope that Andrew Gillum still has a shot in Florida. It is time to get a government that looks truly like the people it governs.
I’m feeling more hopeful this morning than I have in two years that we can right this listing ship. Stacey Abrams is within a hair’s breadth of governor of Georgia — Georgia! — despite the systematic attacks on and lies about her character and naked, overt cheating on Brian Kemp’s part.
The America of the 21st century is coming and there’s nothing cranky old white people can do to stop it.
Signed, A Newly Optimistic Middle Aged White Woman
65
@EWood I'm on your side politically, but anyone with a Trump sticker on his car in a deep blue state is subject to the same harassment. I find it as repellent as what happened to you.
2
It's ironic - almost no-one checks your signature when you pay by credit card. Even when shopping online, which should be secure, there can be a slight mis-match between the name you list and the name on your card.
So it's easy to shop, but hard to vote. Shouldn't it be the other way around?
19
@democritic It should be easy to shop. The financial transaction industry is insured against loss from identity theft. The idea that it’s hard to vote is absurd. The fact that vote counts are greatly increased is proof that the vast majority of people of all races were able to do so. In fact, minority voting in Georgia increased substantially.
4
@John
It's always been hard to vote.
The goal is to make it easier to vote and to encourage everyone to do so.
GOP legislatures and governors are trying to prevent that goal from being reached.
3
The 90-year-old person in your car could not have voted in every election since she was 18. I turned 18 in 1972, the year the voting age was lowered from 21, and I am not yet 90.
@mstedham Georgia was the first state to lower the voting age to 18 in 1943. A 90 year old would have turned 18 in 1946.
5
@Catherine The Georgia law applied only to state and local elections. In 1948, the 90-year-old would have been 20 and ineligible to vote in the presidential election.
I have lived in Atlanta for 23 years. Just over 2 years ago both my 5th district State Senate and House Rep were Republican. Then a special election about 18 months ago and our State Senate seat switched to Democrat, then yesterday our House Rep switched to Democrat. And we held the Senate seat.
And up in the 6th district Democrat Lucy McBath, African American, is leading. That was where Jon Ossoff lost in a special election. The point is.
No matter the outcome of Stacey Abrams election, she won. Why, because without her drive and work ethics, and intelligence and love of Georgians, we could have lost what we are now gaining.
And we will continue to fight for "All the People"
12
@cherrylog754 Abrams didn't win. Her donors might have gained though.
1
There is no Neo Jim Crow... it's just the same Jim Crow.
15
Kemp is a cheater.
16
This is beyond criminal and fully contemptible. I live in a Republican controlled town where Elizabeth Warren lost the 2018 senate election by 30% and Republican gov Charlie Baker won by 30%. trump won by 30%, President Obama lost by 30%. Yet no ID is necessary, no signature required, no gymnastics required of jumping through impossible hoops to exercise your right to vote. You walk into your precinct, tell the poll worker your street address, they check off your name, hand you your ballot, you go into the voting booth. When completed you turn in your ballot and your name is checked off the list for the second time. Done. It is like this in every town across Massachusetts and has been since I started voting in 1978 when I was old enough to vote. Some republicans win, especially governors and state legislators with no cheating at all. Former senator Scott Brown, former governors Mitt Romney, Paul Cellucci, Bill Weld, Jane Swift. And though I didn't vote for them I can rest easy knowing they won fair and square. The good old fashioned way. The peoples' votes decided.
12
The values of Stacy Abrams is so far apart from the values of the rest of America that She should lose. And if she had the votes the she should have won. But she didn’t. Wrap her election all you want into blatant racism but At the end of the day, her values and priorities did not fit Georgia or the rest of America.
9
@Tom what values do you have in mind? I know that she owes a lot of money on credit cards but to my knowledge she has never declared bankruptcy. I think that everyone would like an accurate vote count.
6
@Tom Well Tom if she had been involved in a fair election, she would have won. Haven't you been paying attention? Do you discount voter suppression? I do not.
9
@Tom
I guess you’re saying the Jim Crow ‘values’ of keeping Black folks from voting ‘fit Georgia’.
7
Dear Dr. Anderson,
Please keep it coming, America desperately needs to hear the voices of citizens like you and your kindred. I'm a white, male senior citizen, and a native of the Upper Midwest. I came of age during the upheaval following the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Watching the outrage that has been perpetrated against Blacks by Kemp in Georgia, and the closeness of Abrams to unseat him, it seems as though in 2018, Georgia still is mired where it was in 1864. Judging from this year's results, it appears that a shockingly large part of America sympathizes with the long-outdated mores of Georgia.
14
You know, I’ve always heard of the literacy tests in history class, but never really internalized it before. To be challenged on a fundamental level while trying to exercise one’s constitutional right to vote despite all identification allowing you to do so, never really hit me until I read about the woman in this story who the poll workers used to ask to read something.
I ask people this, if voter fraud is such a big issue in the United States that we willfully disenfranchise our own citizens from conducting their constitutional right, then how come these laws were not enshrined in our constitution? How come we are fine with past election results, when it was arguably easier to ‘hack’ the vote (and quite openly done via bribes, extortion, etc. )? How come only republicans seem to think it is an issue only in regards to non-whites voting? How come whites are never implicitly mentioned as having committed voter fraud? Aren’t they as likely to do it to ensure their candidate wins? All of this points to the idea that the modern Republican Party is so against non-white American power, that they would do anything to prevent it from happening. They didn’t even let President Obama utilize his right to nominate a justice despite having almost a year left to his presidency. Yet, President Trump, who is under investigation for pretty much treason, faced no real obstacle in nominating his justice. I think we all know what these signs point to regarding the Republican Party.
22
Not supporting the ACA is a barrier to voting? Not supporting Obama is a barrier to voting? Sounds like the author wants a one party state.
8
@Shamrock
Not a barrier to voting. But examples of denigrating Barack Obama - she mention specifics there - like the Birthers.
Did you read the essay?
3
@Maxie She does suggest that any opposition to Obama or Abrams has to have been racist in origin. While many people who didn't support Obama and don't support Abrams are likely doing so because of racist beliefs it is wrong to suggest that any opposition to them is racist in nature.
3
We don't yet know how the election for governor in Georgia will turn out. But I have two comments on that election -- one is that I am surprised at the closeness of the election. I actually think that the Democrats could win Georgia if they could get all of the people that lean Democratic to turn out.
The other comment is to express shame and embarrassment at the level of hate and malice expressed by some. I know how some people loathed President Obama solely because of his skin color; and I am sure that there are many who hate Stacy Abrams for the same reason. Actually, some people hated President Obama because he is black and hated him all the more because he is educated and smart. The same people hate Ms. Abrams for the same reasons.
I think that we all feel that we live in a great country and want to think the best for our country and want the best for our country and people. But the levels of racial hate that we see makes me ashamed of some of our fellow citizens.
I can help thinking that if there had been an honest election in Georgia, Stacy Abrams would be Governor.
35
@Aubrey
Yes, thank you for saying what must be said. I think people were angry at Obama for being black and so talented. And I think the same issue applied to Ms. Abrams. She made me proud of being American. She should be Governor because she is more qualified.
11
@Aubrey I think she probably would have lost anyway — which makes Kemp's actions all the more repulsive to me. He's like Nixon, afraid to rely on the voters so he feels the need to cheat to win.
1
Lester Maddox was the governor of Georgia when I was a kid living across the way in Alabama. George C. Wallace was our governor. They were Dixiecrat/Democrats. Some things have changed over the past 50 years or so; some have not. The racism is no longer as overt as ax handles, church bombings, and governors standing in the schoolhouse door; but it sure hasn’t gone away.
In case anyone has forgotten, all of those “Republicans” in the deep south were hard core Dixiecrat segregationists until it became clear the rest of the Democratic Party had become a strong advocate for civil rights and voting rights. Nixon welcomed them into the fold; and by now the direct descendants of the Dixiecrats are the dominant force in the Republican Party, in the south and in the rural areas throughout the country where the party draws its support from white people who vote their fear and resentment before anything else.
27
It's not just the laws imposed to suppress voter participation, it the laws that haven't been passed to prevent conflict of interest. Prior GA Sec of State Handel stepped down from office and SOS Cox recused herself from involvement in elections when they were running for office. Kemp refused to do either. The fact that there are no laws prohibiting this is outrageous.
That Abrams got such a large percentage of the vote despite this, is a major accomplishment. Well done!
48
At this point, any Kemp win should be considered illegitimate. He may well have won the election without resorting to all of this - although clearly he didn't like his chances enough to try having a fair campaign - but we'll simply never know.
If this happened in another country we'd call it illegitimate. We shouldn't hold ourselves to a different standard.
74
@Zach What are you trying to say? What makes it illegitimate?
1
It is unbelievable that Kemp is in charge of elections as Secretary of State and at the same time a candidate running for office. Could you imagine the outcry if Stacey Abrams had held these dual roles? That is Georgia for you.
My father was from a very small town in rural Georgia and escaped to join the Navy in 1944. Well, there really was no escape for black people in those days. My sister and I visited the town on a road trip through Georgia a few years ago and we were immediately asked where we were from. Not very welcoming. When I heard Ms Abrams campaigned in rural Georgia, I could only shake my head and hope she had adequate security.
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Congratulations to Gov-Elect Kemp. He won more decisively than many thought he would. Sadly those complaining here have sour grapes but I am sure will support Governor Kemp as it is to everyone's benefit to see GA do well.
5
If Kemp did indeed win, it sounds like he did it by hook or crook.
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@Garth
Winning by less than <1% of the vote in a Southern state to a black woman is not winning decisively. This is called winning by suppressing minority voters. And this may be the last election in which a Republican wins in a state wide election in Georgia. Ms. Abrams may have lost the battle but is winning the war on opening up Georgia to other minority candidates. Ms. Abrams is really the hero in this story.
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@Garth he has not won definitively. All votes have not been counted. Abrams has not conceded.
4
If you look at Trump's judicial nominees to the federal courts, a disturbing number of them have been the Republican enablers for voter suppression in their states. Trump is putting them into lifetime positions as judges on the federal courts. When voters' rights groups challenge these restrictive laws, guess who will be sitting on the bench to make the decisions.
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@DJY
The Republican playbook seemed to rely heavily on gerrymandering and voter suppression.
4
@Maxie
"Racism -- whether it comes packaged in the Nazi's brown shirt or a three-button suit -- destroys the moral fiber of a nation. It poisons public life. So I would urge every American to ask himself before he goes to the polls on Tuesday: Do I want to cast my vote on the basis of fear? Do I want to follow the merchants of bigotry?"
Words of Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966.
2
Same rules apply to both parties. In Indianapolis, heavily Democratic, free rides on government buses to polls. In rural areas, heavily Republican, no government buses. Is that discrimination?
8
@Shamrock
There should be free rides to the polls for everyone in every district!
But you know discrimination as well as me. What happened in Georgia was discriminatory.
3
@Shamrock care to cite what on earth you're talking about with "free rides on government buses"?
2
@Shamrock Honestly and openly curious here.
When you say "government bus" do you mean regular public transportation (widely available in most cities)? Is that normally available in rural areas by you as well? Did they waive fees for the day to help people get to their polling place and discontinue service to rural areas? Or was it that Dem. party in Indianapolis hired buses to pick people up and concentrated their efforts on areas where they knew Dem. voters would be concentrated? (Totally partisan calculation, yet totally legal.) I know a lot of people that were giving rides in their own personal vehicles to seniors and disabled citizens so they could exercise their right to vote.Both Democrats and Republicans alike. I see no discrimination.
I'm confused about the phrase "government bus" and genuinely would like to know what went on.
2
The exact match requirement is preposterous. Several different databases with each having a different person entering your information into it. There's plenty of room for human error and typographical mistakes. The voter should be penalized for that?
Worse is that the voter isn't given the opportunity to correct erroneous information or are made to jump through multiple hoops to do so before election day.
Personally, my drivers license has my middle name but my voter registration does not. I would not have been able to vote in the Georgia election. I had to consult my voter registration card to know how to sign my mail-in ballot. I didn't want any name mismatch shenanigans even here in California.
Additionally, the matching signature requirement is purely subjective. A person's signature may not match what it was twenty years ago. I have been diagnosed with benign essential tremors that presents itself when I am writing. My signature is never quite the same each time. My vote would likely have been rejected in Georgia based solely on one person's opinion and I would never be informed.
Fifty different states with fifty different voting regulations, hundreds of county election boards and multiple methods of voting makes matters even worse. Your luck of having your vote counted depends on what state/county you live in. How is that democratic in the USA?
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@fdsajkl You raise excellent points. My name is different on different documents as well. This will never pass, since Kemp has apparently beaten Abrams, but I'd like to see legislation requiring any secretary of state running for other statewide office to recuse himself/herself from those duties during the campaign. It's appalling that Kemp was in charge of voting administration of a race in which he was participating.
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@fdsajkl I don’t see it as being the state’s issue when people fill out their paperwork incorrectly. You should always match what’s on your Social Security card.
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@John, My SS card matches everything except my drivers license. The REAL ID law made the DMV put the wrong name as my middle name (I have used my maiden name as my middle name for over 30 years, bu tno court changed it). Women often have problems with names not matching. So, which name do we put on our voter registration?
Additionally, I teach many students who have Hispanic or African names, with accents and hyphens in places white European descendants do not place or use. What if some clerk miss-entered the name in the first place? How would the voter know their name didn't match?
9
I very much feel for Georgia, and hope that her citizens are better able to raise their voices come 2020.
I also hope that Stacy Abrams is successful in her continued fight after Election Day, and that she assumes the mantle of Governor of Georgia.
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Abrams did well in a Red State. Don’t be gloomy, it’s a good start for a state with a history of deep racial divisions.
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Wrong, she lost to a criminal enterprise that abused their public jobs to defraud US citizens of their basic civil right to vote. Unless those criminals are prosecuted, the economy of Georgia will decline.
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@Casual Observer
Or to paraphrase Nicholas Kristof: a miss is as good as a mile.
A ninety year woman could not have voted in a state or federal election since she was “18 years old.”
In 1971, President Richard Nixon, under popular pressure, formally certified the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18.
4
@Nuschler
Actually, Georgia was the first to lower the age to 18, way back in 1943. So if she was 90 this year, she would have been 15 at the time, and able to cast her first ballot at 18.
20
@Nuschlera Georgia lowered the voting age to 18 in 1943, under the idea of ”old enough to fight, old enough to vote”. It was the first state to do so.
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@Nuschler
In 1943, Georgia was the first state in the union to lower the voting age to 18. Someone who is 90 years old today would have been 18 in 1946 and therefore able to vote in Georgia. See https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_age
6
This particular contest should be federally investigated for voter fraud and voter suppression. This was in-your-face corruption by Kemp and Co. He has no business being declared the winner. When you cheat to win, you don't win.
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@MAW
Sadly sometimes when you cheat to win, you win.
8
If Brian Kemp were a man of integrity, he would have resigned his office as Secretary of State as soon as he decided to run for governor. The appearance, at the very least, of a conflict of interest would have embarrassed most people, but Trump's GOP doesn't know the meaning of the word.
As for Mr. Obama, I (an old white man) still remember the thrill I felt in the wake of both his elections. But I also worried every day he was in office that somebody would attempt to assassinate him or Mrs. Obama. Now, we are back to worrying whether African-American candidates will even have a fair chance of winning election. The South has changed, but not nearly enough.
112
Maybe I'll be skipping the pecan pie this Thanksgiving.
9
A lot of us saw it the same way. I don't live in Georgia so couldn't vote, but truly believe that if everyone who wanted to had been allowed to vote, and there was no voter suppression through throwing voters off the rolls, too few machines, felons not allowed to vote, Abrams would have won easily.
37
What do you mean Neo-Jim Crow? He never left. The South is still the South.
36
@Bruce Rozenblit, well, there is plenty of racism in KCMO and all over the USA, not just the south.
2
Send lawyers to litigate voter suppression. Take Kemp to court to reveal dirty tricks and civil rights violations.
58
Strangely enough Kemp seems to have found enough votes to win. How long will this bitter mockery of democracy endure? Actually, forever, as Trump appoints all the judges.
21
The fact that Republicans need to cheat doesn't bother them in the least - they know their power is illegitimate, but they don't care. Their interest is not in the will or welfare of the people, it's in having the power to put their own welfare (and that of their corporate and billionaire owners) above all others.
It's no surprise that Trump adores Russia's kleptocrats: they operate the way he and the GOP would like to.
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@James Demers
Ever since the Republicans engineered George W. Bush's "win" I have realized that the rule of law and even token honesty mean nothing to Republicans.
Their shameless, disingenuous and mealy-mouthed lip service to the electoral process are both risible and tragic.
The coup in 2000 and its ensuing Florida/Supreme Court shenanigans have cost many, many innocent people their lives.
The Bush and Cheney sociopathy and opportunism continues to warp the middle east, ginning up bold fascism and violence.
Post-Bush, Trump's fanning of the flames there, and his reckless disregard for fairness cry out for a new leader to restore our national honor and trust, and to work honestly toward peace.
10
In writing the majority opinion in Shelby County (North Carolina) vs. Holder in 2013, Chief Justice John Roberts opined that “racism is no more,” or words to that effect, and severed the genuine final protection for disenfranchised African-Americans (and any other disfavored non-white bloc) from the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Southern Congressmen and state legislators have, since that halcyon year, sought ways both direct and indirect to stopper up the black vote from erupting onto the lily-white landscape to take control of their own circumstances. Since (mostly Southern) whites did not want blacks to control their own situations and destinies through the power of the ballot, they have invoked patterns of voter suppression that carried (and carries) as much of a threat as any physical violence did during Jim Crow.
Their obvious reasoning is that people of color would vote in huge numbers to shuck off the debilitating and soul-crushing effects of white supremacy; what oppressed ethnic group would not? The protections that were stitched into the Voting Rights Act were put there deliberately as the House and Senate 50-plus years ago knew that the rabid South had to be muzzled to prevent the law from unraveling. But in the wisdom of the Chief Justice, “racism is no more.”
The final arbiter of law and of civil rights (SCOTUS) now deems both an anachronistic relic of a time when “America was great.”
One wonders if Chief Justice Roberts knew Donald Trump was coming all along.
21
Just so you all know, Joe Wilson didn't shout "You Lie" he shouted "You Liar" to President Obama. Wilson has a strong southern accent which means he does not enunciate the last syllable which is actually formed with a wide mouth rather than a dropped jaw. Hence reporters heard "You Lie" when in fact he said (in his own way) "You Liar" I hear this type of enunciation / mispronunciation all the time "foe" means "four", "moe" means "more" It's called country.
In my view, Wilson's conduct was all the "moe" shameful.
12
Minority rule has always been hard.
Lie, cheat, steal--make it all up.
Ask the Bolsheviks. Ask the Nazis.
9
Hard, yes, but not as hard as one would think. Many examples even today to prove that point. North Korea, Syria, Saudi Arabia (in terms of religion since most propels are not Wahabi), Myanmar, etc.. the minority with power always fights to the death, many times literally, to keep its power.
@Waleed Khalid
Could have added the US founding fathers to the list.
Kemp is the poster-child of voter suppression (if not outright fraud). Years of purging voter rolls, insane requirements, invalidating votes, closing polling stations, and (cherry on top) Kemp in charge of all of it! What a man! Won by cheating - a real achievement!
Even a good-old-fashioned strong-man dictator would allow us the pleasure of the dance that goes with a sham-election. Kemp has reduced us to a bad farce.
12
Eloquent column with hard truths for 21st C USA. Democracy under attack by states, the S. Court and party gerrymandering to gain power.
A democracy needs national, consistent procedures, laws and protections for voting across the country. This crucial requirement shouldn't be left up to states and local powers.
We need to publicize other democracies as a role model, with automatic registration, voting on a holiday not a work day, and mandatory time off from jobs, if needed to vote--- as federal law consistent nationwide.
We need laws specifically to prevent the closing of polling places that has forced people with jobs, often more than 1, and also child care duties and transport problems to stand in line for many hours. Elderly people cannot stand in line a long time. That's an abuse of citizens.
Our destructive racial past had set a role model for voter manipulation by the power structure if they're so inclined. We see the current adoring crowds at Trump rallies. The GOP has tried to widen citizen divisions any way they can.
But millions of Americans of all races see past this, and want America to 'live up to the meaning of its creed' in MLKs words. Can the USA ever become a normal, functioning democracy by even late 20th century standards?
14
If absolutely nothing else, it needs to be national law that Election Day be a national holiday. Even if some people just take the day off, most of the criticism I hear and that early voting is too difficult to do and that taking several hours off to go vote is not feasible for the reasons you stated. Early voting still requires, in many states, a person to take a trip to an office and vote in person meaning that a person may need to take the day off anyway depending on the job. It could be difficult to do when the offices aren’t open after typical work hours. There are too many institutionalized blocks to voting, perhaps voting via the internet should be possible? Make it such that people must use their ss number, something every citizen has, to log into the voting page. If they do not know it for whatever reason they probably don’t really vote anyway since they don’t use any government or banking services. This would very quickly tally the votes and do away with so many issues. Of course “the internet infrastructure would have to in place for the day to handle millions of people on the site at a time so that the pages don’t freeze or time-out due to traffic. We don’t want another Affordable Care Act launch where they underestimated the number of people who would use the system and had to scramble to provide for them. Maybe limit voting to people with certain numbers at certain times while having appropriate times when anyone can login and vote?
I pray that Georgia's brand of racism (and the political brands flaming its version of American values) perishes like the beast from the depths that it represents. Keep the faith we will live to see it.
122
@Alan I'm 67 don't hold your breath.
In this age of big data, highly accurate digital mapping, and AI, it's surprising that no one has crunched the numbers to show what the political landscape would look like if all eligible voters actually voted based on current district mapping. This might provide some interesting insights and motivation.
19
Georgia voters will have a chance, on December 4th, to elect a Secretary of State who will ensure honest elections with everyone's right to vote respected. Democrat John Barrow will be in a runoff then; if he is elected there will be at least some check on the one-party rule we have been under for 16 years.
I'm still hoping Abrams will make it to a runoff too, though it is looking less likely. Whatever happens with the governor's race, if we want to have a fair election in Georgia in 2020 and 2022, Democrats need to show up on December 4th and make sure John Barrow wins.
Brian Kemp is leaving behind a mess in the Secretary of State's office; we need a Democrat to clean it up.
187
Don't give up, Stacey Abrams! Don't give up until you've made every legitimate effort. I was so looking forward to the recognition of your achievement and the repudiation of a rigged and corrupt system that allows a candidate to oversee his own election.
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@C Wolfe
Yes, she has to not give up. But I want to know where the high power Democrat attorneys are. Why isn't there an aggressive visible team of attorneys - such as former DOJ civil rights attorneys - to take this one all the way to the Supreme Court? Why isn't this all over the press and cable TV?
10
It is abundantly clear that Kemp specifically engineered the disaster that unfolded in Georgia. I hope he spends the next 4 years wrapped up in richly-deserved lawsuits.
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@Elizabeth Moore
The first act by the Democratic House should be to establish an independent counsel to investigative voter suppression and violations of the Voting Rights Act by state officials such as those in Georgia. Once it has been determined that Kemp and others committed crimes they should be referred to the Justice Department for prosecution. Let them rot in prison.
23
"But only for now." Yes, keep on going, and do not relent. I marvel at Stacey Abrams...her moxie, her tenacity, her smarts, her ethics and moral compass. She came so close, but it is not over yet. Georgia certainly was the champion of voter suppression, starting with Kemp. We in other states, of a different color and also the same, see clearly what is happening there. And it is in "good" company with its neighbor to the south, Florida. To Stacey, my thoughts are with you. If you don't win this one, can I suggest the House of Representatives next? You would be welcomed with open arms.
82
Reinstate the Voting Rights Act. NOW!
187
I have heard next to no media analyses of tight election results like Georgia that even considered voter suppression as a factor. Kemp's actions as Secretary of State set the table for his apparent victory.
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@mancuroc
Absolutely right!
Such blatant public corruption must not go unprosecuted!
1
Thank youi for an insightful article. Just heard on CNN that there will probably be a recount and a run off election netween Kemp and Abrams. Souldn't Kemp recuse himself and let an impartial panel do the counting in light of his recent invalidation and purging of votes, his withholdinbg 53,000 newly registered votes and other dirty tricks? The Democrats should insis on it, in a clear show that as a result of Trump and the Replubicans losing the House last night, the old Jim Crow tricks will no longer be tolerated.
150
@Sitge Recounts are tricky in Georgia, if they're available at all, because our electronic voting system doesn't provide a paper trail. I've lived in Georgia for thirteen years. From time-to-time, you'd hear a voter ask an elections official for help printing his/her ballot submission. The answer was always the same: the print doesn't work. I received the same answer in 2016. But as we learned from Mr. Kemp earlier this year after a voter information data hack, Georgia's electronic system doesn't create a paper trail, making the 'print' button useless. I could be wrong, but the lack of a paper trail is why I'm not sure a true recount is possible for any election in this state.
4
After reading this story, it leaves me saddened that in 2018, it speaks the truth for so many.
30
Kemp should be in prison, not the Govenor's mansion.
The Democrats should re-introduce the VRA with a pre-clearance requirement for all 50 states.
Wealthy Democratic donors should fund programs to get people proper IDs and free legal assistance to blast through these partisan hurdles to voting.
The next Democratic presidential candidate should make voting front and center in the campaign. Countering the "voting fraud" claim from the GOP is easy. "Of course I want an election free of fraud. Why do you and the Republican Party want to deny certain people of their right to vote? "
130
@Russell Elkin
"Wealthy Democratic donors should fund programs to get people proper IDs..."
You don't need funds or anything. It's as easy as getting a driver's license. Any citizen of voting age can do that.
4
@al . Should one not have a driver's license the getting one for voting purposes, for a fee, would be a 'poll tax'. The DMV's close at 4:00 and closed weekends, not 'customer' friendly. If you have a job or two forget it.
21
@Russell Elkin Do what Michigan did - grass roots efforts that shut gerrymandering limiting voting access down...Proposals 2 & 3.
7
This just confirms to me that the US is in no way a true democracy, even one with the flaw of an electoral college.
92
Karl Marx said that power does not change hands without struggle. Those in power are going to hold on by any means necessary, including violence.
44
@Conrad
Well said.
Third wave morally altruistic & naive feminists and minorities need to grasp this simple fact of nature.
Big question is, will they be ready to fight when push comes to shove?
(pardon my cynicism, history is on my side)
1
The disenfranchisement of voters in Georgia, North Dakota , and many places across the country which were heavily gerrymandered by Rebublicans needs to be addressed by our courts and by our Governors and Congressmen and Women. Forget the Senate, they are just an old boys club of really old boys for now, but that will change too. Thousands of people who were qualified to vote were prevented from voting, and close election results were distorted. This has to change, voting is our
right and our responsibility.
207
@Sharon Kurland
I could never understand why anyone would want to Gerrymander a state like North Dakota. Is it to isolate Native Americans?
21
@Alfred Yul Uh. . .YUP! The voter suppression in North Dakota was specifically aimed at stopping members of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe from voting because they dared to challenge the Dakota Access Pipeline. The gerrymanders there are for the sole purpose of cutting Native American rights down to nothing so that the Reservation land can be used for the installation of the pipeline. And, of course, when there is an environmental disaster, it will be the Tribe who is stuck with it.
89
@Alfred Yul: DING-DING-DING! That's right.
19