Sorry, but many blacks failed to vote in 2016, as well as others.
Pa., Michigan, and Wisconsin could have easily given Hillary her victory, if blacks cared enough.
Consequently, I find this essay not only obvious, but whistling past the graveyard. It also smacks of bland careerism.
14
At one time when someone lost an election, and Ms. Adams did lose the election, the loser would gracefully concede and move on. Now if someone loses an election they portray themselves as a victim. Hillary Clinton is another prime example of this.
17
Your father’s world was over 50 years ago. Minorities still have a way to go to full equality. But, frankly, I think the idea that people don’t vote because of voter suppression is, in the vast majority of elections, is absurd.
12
I'm perfectly fine with Abrams, but perfectly sick of skin color based ideology.
9
Cheating to win. How pitiful. The republicans are as bad as the Russians in destroying our democracy.
8
Why aren't you running for Senate in GA?
A Republican Senate = Hamstrung Politics for the future.
You could lead the wave that takes treasonous McConnell out of leadership and to the eternal ignominy he deserves.
What are you Democrats thinking?
You think the paper ballot law will pass a Republican Senate?
I can't understand the lack of urgency about the Senate, especially in light of the arguments you make in this opinion piece.
7
I have studied the rise of conservatism. Starting in the 1980s the republican party strategized to become a permanent dominant party. Their approach was four fold.
1. K Street project. Promse business leaders they will get legislation if they support only republicans. Get money into politics.
2. Suppress democratic leaning organizations such as unions, some non profits.
3. Engage in propaganda campaigns with lies and distortions.
4. Voter suppression of democratic leaning voters by changes in times, places, voter id laws, disenfranchising student and minority voters.
Anyone who can read can research the gop's strategies for permanent power. This is how a minority of the population can rule.
Furthermore in republican lead legislatures ALEC is slipping in laws designed specifically to limit the self governance of urban areas by restricting local taxing and regulatory laws. ALEC is fund by wealthy individuals and corporations.
Not only does the gop suppress voting basically they do not believe in democracy.
10
So why, Ms Abrams, aren't you running for the Senate in Georgia?
17
@Vicki. What will be her excuse when she loses that election? Besides, she has a very lucrative scheme raking in truckloads of money as a victim of nonexistent voter suppression. If she gave that scheme she’d have to work for money and produce actual results. Much easier to be a victim than a makers
16
Thank God for you, Ms. Abrams.
12
Every day brings a new story about some state in the Old South marginalizing someone, usually not white and not male and not hetero. White male supremacy sure dies hard doesn't it? No, it isn't exclusive to this region, nor does everyone in the South buy into that mentality but it sure is getting easier to write off these states as a block every day.
6
It is unbelievable that the fans of "tell it like it is" can't hear this.
When the message is what they want to hear, or provides them with victims to blame, it's all about self-righteousness. When it's about silencing the less fortunate, "those people", or uppity people of color, it's all good for them.
Shameless.
Making America Toxic, in every possible way ...
6
There is nothing or no one in the United States of America suppressing the vote of any citizen.
35
@Kurt
Did you read the article, Kurt?
I believe it was about the suppression of many citizens.
And if it weren't so clearly accurate, the Republicans would be having a field day debunking Ms. Abram's claims.
The margin in Georgia was just over 1% for the man who ran the election process.
Read through all of Abram's clear and unambiguously stated evidence of suppression, and if you are able, make a case--rather than a free-floating blanket statement--refuting each on it's merits.
78
And how do you know this?
14
@Kurt
And I guess there never was, huh?
18
No one should be precluded from voting on the basis of race. No one should have to go through hoops to register to vote. To have only one place to register in a large, black majority rural county, as the Times previously reported was the case in an Alabama county, reeks.
That said, having proper registration procedures, no registration on Election Day, and voting only on Election Day or absentee ballot are legitimate precautions taken to insure an honest ballot. Those students who study out of state should vote in their home states via absentee ballot: attention, Wisconsin.
Ms. Abrams, bless her heart, favors vote herding, the shepherding to the polls of all those, qualified or not, who would vote for her. Those who oppose that, in her opinion, favor voter suppression, the new mantra of the left.
Ms. Abrams thought that she would have a coronation. Had she run as a centrist and read the Douglas Wilder playbook, she might well be sitting in the governor’s mansion today.
6
Well said Stacey. I'm Caucasian and I'm with you 100%. Let's hope we do better in 2020.
9
There are too few white people in this country who get it. We should be ashamed and disgusted by the unjustifiable behavior of those in power who think they have a right to ignore the principles that we claim are our foundation. We are so far removed from “freedom and justice for all.” There is no excuse for the alarming and thinly disguised efforts of states to block, trick, and negate the rights of voters of color. We need all voters to be able to register and have access to the polls, without exception.
We also need to recognize that much of the country was built on the backs of slaves, and we should be humbled. We need to acknowledge how poorly we still treat people of color. We need to make it a priority that people of color have opportunities, education, and respect. We need to repair the damage that has been done. We owe them that, and so much more.
5
@PMC-->>
" We need to acknowledge how poorly we still treat people of color."
.
Just who is this "we" that you are referring to?
While you may treat "poc" poorly, you may want to travel more to see that times have changed greatly.
6
Stacey Adams lost the election fair and square. It was the best thing that ever happened to her. She would have been a horrible governor and her career would have been over. Now she can lie about nonexistent voter suppression and rake in tons of donations and publicity from unquestioning far left activists/media. She’s set for life!
13
Stacey Abrams is absolutely right.
We have to fight the Republican aggression when it comes to voting suppression.
Republicans leaders are not stupid. They know most republican voters are perfectly OK with Republican policies to suppress the minority vote.
This is typical of Republicans and one of the reasons they love Donald Trump. A little bit of racism goes a long way.
Americans should figure this out and abandon the Republican Party.
38
See cspan video of an impressive talk by Abrams, interviewed by NYT columnist Eduardo Porter.
Cspan:
" The Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC, held a conversation with Stacey Abrams, founder of Fair Fight Action and the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia.
She spoke about the role diversity plays in foreign affairs, and issues that impact the global community, such as climate change, income inequality and voter suppression."
Her talk was informed and adept. Took audience questions -- with some nice humor included.
I hope she runs for office--she has a lot of supporters and admirers.
8
There should not be any barriers to voting. When a citizen turns 18, the government should automatically send them a VOTERS CARD to participate in voting until the day they die. Voting should not be tied to our very broken race-biased criminal justice system that shamefully creates Jim-Crow barriers via lifetime voting rights bans in some states. The fact is that twice as many people of color are arrested and wind up in prison when they are stopped for the same exact crime as "white" people. Poor people can not afford to hire a private attorney and wind up plea bargaining more than 80% of the time, which results in much higher numbers of felony records among poor people. For the same reason, money helps accused white collar criminals avoid a felony record. The fact that two political parties hold "club" primaries paid for by taxpayers and choose who is our next president is WRONG. No one should have to join a political party to vote for the candidate of their choice in a party primary. I applaud Stacey Abrams' efforts to untangle #VoterSuppression!
7
The Federalist Society would be delighted to read the comments of those who posit that it's not happening. Citizens doing their dirty work. We've seen this before.
5
As long as politicians can pick their voters, our democracy remains in peril. The Southern political system has rested on disenfranchising blacks since the end of Reconstruction after the Civil War.
When the Republican-appointed members of "our" Supreme Court gutted the 1965 Voting Rights Act, they set the pretext for ongoing voter suppression.
Suppressing votes hurts all of us - even when the votes of the disenfranchised might differ from those who vote - because they preclude legitimate voices from impacting public policy and justice.
11
"We ask for proper and uniform training of poll workers, timely processing of absentee ballots, functioning and secure voting machines, accurate voter registration databases, an end to policies like “exact match” and “use it or lose it,” and many more necessary remedies."
We have the same problem in SC. I sit on the voter protection committee of the Horry County (SC) Democratic Party (Myrtle Beach area) to make sure that everyone gets to vote. We disseminate information, assist in voter registration and train and monitor poll watchers in an effort to promote fair voting.
We also work to get more voter registration offices. Other than DMV, which seems to be hit or miss and online, which many who are poor have trouble accessing, many of our voters must drive an hour or more to the county seat in order to register. People who missed one voting cycle are dropped from voter rolls. Others who qualify for provisional ballots are not offered them.
Furthermore, ancient voting machines often fail. One polling place that I monitored had to use paper ballots because all four machines were down--twice--and that was just in the first four hours of voting.
We had had calls from people who were denied Democratic ballots in primaries until they insisted on them--sometimes up to three times before they got them.
In short, we must update our voting places, our voting rolls and our approach to voting. We must make everyone who is eligible to vote able to vote.
12
Disenfranchisement? No one is being disenfranchised. That means losing the right to vote.
7
I worry more about people who just don't bother to vote than I do about either voter fraud or voter suppression.
10
Stacey Abrams had been a voting rights advocate long before she was running for governor. She is also not the only one presenting these problems. Assassinating the character of the messenger will not make the message go away.
11
I just read Ms. Abrams' piece while listening to the guy in the White House lay out his immigration speech which tells us of his dream for a meritocratic system for selecting new citizens that would automatically disqualify him for any opportunity for residency here in the land of the free. Yes, I am a cognitive dissonance survivor.
Trump actually suggested we let in foreigners with degrees and save the low-end jobs for natural born citizens rather than provide adequate educations for all children. The mind would be reeling. But after reading the posts here from folks like Mike and Kurt, I can see where Trump gets the idea that he will gain approval for his proposals.
But first, he has to kill off the rule of law.
A better option for everyone interested in the American way of life would be for Mr. Trump to follow in the footsteps of his sister the former judge and step down before he hurts himself. The way he is being used by the Bush 43 retreads in his cabinet is a crime in itself.
The inability of some to see the deleterious effects of voter manipulation, particularly in our Southern states, is an indication of just how dangerous a Fox News president is to the republic. We are rapidly becoming a house divided.
6
"Voters like Mr. del Rio faced unnecessary hurdles, and poll workers were not trained properly to make sure that voices like his were heard."
Ms. Abrams, I'm sure you suspect, as do I, that the poll workers were absolutely trained properly. They were trained -- or understood -- to interpret and enforce these laws as strictly as possible, unless the voter qualifies for a "complexion-based waiver."
In Trump's America, many things that appear to be bugs are in fact carefully designed features, part of the source code.
2
Stacey has managed to turn "activist" into a growth industry. By keeping this ball in the air she continues to raise money and make a very good living (as she did in the past while in the state legislature) and at the same time garner all the free publicity the NY Times can manage to give her. So please be sure and keep those checks and credit card donations rolling in.
11
Then why not run for Senator for Georgia? You point out that it is a national problem, not just Georgia's. We need a Democratic Senate, yet you have turned your back on helping make that happen.
5
@Drew. Why run for office? She’s raking in cash by the truckload for giving a few speeches and whining about nonexistent voter suppression that never happened! It’s much more profitable to be a martyr than an officeholder
7
Stacey is yet another far left Democrat who feels entitled to win every election she runs in. When the voters rejected her in a free and fair election she refused to accept the results, refused to accept reality and claimed voter suppression without any evidence. The biggest threat democracy faces is Democrats who refuse to accept election results
14
astephenf
last legal national election was, er, let me think now, was in 2008........pretty sure that election was legal, 2016 was illegal, a joke, a con game, and the beginning of the fall of the USA....
1
Although wrong across the board on policy, she's a pleasant, seemingly intelligent and well-intentioned woman -- and yet so delusional and so race-baiting. It's a shame she can't stop embarrassing herself.
And that's aside from the absolutely rampant, laughable hypocrisy of a party that not all that long ago was talking about how "unpatriotic" and "chaotic" and "destructive" it would be to refuse to accept the results of a legal election.
10
@stephenf. Can we set aside partisanship for a minute and get Stacey the help she needs? This isn’t Republican vs Democrat, this is about a fellow human being who needs help
5
Stacey, I live in Fulton County Georgia. My last name is Smith! I am white and have a relatively uncommon white first name for the south. For many years I knew there were three of us. Then a black women with a made up version with an extensive criminal experience. Last year, I found out that the department of motor vehicles merged the records of 21 of us with the same name born in 1960 and 1961 together. My car insurance had skyrocketed, I found that Allstate had me with a birthday 11 months younger. A liberty mutual sales agent, found they had merged the records of 21 people with my name. Not the black women with the felonies.
I had been pulled over the year before on Roswell Rd and the cop had told me I was a very bad driver. That I had had my licenses suspended. I told him never. I went down to the Soliciter of Fulton County who pulled me up and said he concurred with what I pulled up that I had not had a ticket for 9 years. Yet he still made me go to driving school to get the new one expunged. All my black friends tell me if you were black you would go to jail.
It was after this they found the 21 people with the same records merged. The insurance companies sent a request to get it fixed.
We can’t have exact match when drivers licenses is mixing up 21 white women that are 57-59 with the same or similar name.
64
@MJS
Oh, please.
1
Is this really an issue in 2019? Not for me.
21
So happy for you. Others aren't so lucky.
19
@Kalik Crick
That's because you had no problem voting. Does it concern you that others had enormous obstacles to surmount to cast a vote?
58
@Kalik Crick. Why not! ?
10
I think this is hogwash. President Obama is an easy example of a person of color who became the most powerful individual in the world, the President of the United States, who was elected by the voters If there is universal voter suppression how did he win the presidency? There are many other persons of color elected to very powerful positions in this country. Sounds like Abrams, much like Clinton, is just feeling sorry for herself for losing a hard-fought election. Abrams thought she deserved to win but the voters didn't think so.
41
It is unethical to allow the Secretary of State for Georgia to run for governor. Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. This should be illegal in all states. This case is no comparison to Clinton. It is Republicans, as usual, setting another new low in ethics.
71
@Mike
The fact that persons of color have been elected does not prove that there is no voter suppression. The reality is that many of the restrictions placed on voting have been aimed at suppressing minority voters who tend to vote Democratic more than Republican. To not see this is to be willfully obtuse, Machiavellian, or hypocritical (since many of those officials involved in voter suppression are sanctimoniously proclaiming the greatness of the Amercian democratic system, flags and all, while tilting the playing field in favor of the GOP. It seems unbelievable that the official in charge of elections in Georgia was one of the contestants, while simultaneously being the arbiter of the election. The fact that he did not recuse himself, and then won (amidst lots of evidence that some voters were diesenfranchised) is shady to say the least.
65
@Gaiter Yet this has been done in the past, and - surprise! - the Secretary of State didn't always win those elections.
5
In an October 2018 interview Ms Abrams called for the impeachment of President Trump, but offered no specific reason why. It seems she is OK with disenfranchising the 63 million voters that chose him. Not every vote is important to her.
13
Thank You , Ms. Abrams, for your valiant fight and efforts to stop voter manipulation in the south. I deeply admire your courage and committment.
However, this is a nationwide fight because the same efforts are being used to stop senior and minority voting in almost every state. The people who have managed to wrest control of OUR govenrments know the only way they can "win" is to cheat. Unfortuantely they have manged over the last 40+ years to convince many Americans that their vote doesn't count.
OUR votes are the most important thing in America. WE THE PEOPLE can/will/must use them to create the change we want to preserve/restore/improve true democracy.
Vote only for Socially Conscious Women and men who will work for 99.9% of us and help us restore true democracy - Social and Economic Equity for ALL Americans.
Please, Good People of color, do NOT guage everything by the color of one's skin. Vote for people of any race/religion/color whose core values match yours and who will work for 99.9% of us.
OUR lives depend on working together and preventing any further divisions.
4
Stacy Abrams expressly declares, "That is why I am determined to end voter suppression and empower all people to participate in our democracy."
"All people". Not just citizens. Not just citizens who have reached age of majority.
She later adds; "This is our ethos: Use the ballot box to create the change our communities need and deserve."
Perhaps our communities would also be well served by actions of individuals and community groups and not solely rely upon the government to achieve 'change'.
5
I was proud to vote for Stacey Abrams in 2018. The way the election was handled was disgraceful. I hoped that because I had plenty of time to stand in the long line at the poll (thanks to the flexibility my office job affords me and my employer's respect - including a policy - for allowing employees time to vote) and a straightforward name not at risk for being purged due to the exact match requirement, I would be one of a majority of voters for Ms. Abrams when so many others were denied the right. I had great privileges that others did not enjoy, and those privileges should not have translated to a greater ability to cast my vote. Thank you, Ms. Abrams, for refusing to be silenced.
6
I’m sure I’m not alone, especially now, in wishing that Stacey Abrams were governor of Georgia. But her intelligence, compassion, incredible work ethic, and willingness to lead continue to comfort & reassure me during these stressful times in our country. Thank you, Ms. Abrams. I wouldn’t have been your constituent in Georgia but I remain a big fan.
3
Secretaries of State should be measured on getting every eligible voter registered and every registered voter to the polls. Raising fake fears of voter fraud is a fraud on democracy itself. Kemp in Georgia, Kris Kobach in Kansas, and their ilk are the enemies of, not the protectors of, democracy.
4
Stacey Abrams is perhaps the most brilliant, thoughtful, analytical politician in today's landscape.
7
Run Stacy run - for the senate! Please?
4
@Nic. She’ll never again run for office. It’s far more profitable and far less work to be a victim of nonexistent voter suppression than to do any real work
6
Ms. Abrams, please challenge Senator Perdue in 2020.
We need you.
4
@Blue in Green. And give up her highly lucrative racket of being a victim of voter suppression that never happened? Ain’t happening!
6
Please please please run for President!!
1
The GOP trying to block people of color makes perfect sense. It is simply a racist agenda acted upon. If it was up to the GOP, only white men owning property would be able to vote. The GOP and their "fine people" are refighting the civil war in the 21st century.
5
I guess you accuse your home state of malfeasance because you lost. Please don't even think of running for president. Liberals always scream "voter suppression" but are never able to prove it.
8
I think you are confusing Voter Suppression with Voter Fraud. Voter Suppression is real, it happened in GA and has happened throughout the country for decades. It takes the form of voter intimidation, “exact match” voter registration practices, sending voting machines to mostly black districts without power cords (as happened in 2018 in GA), etc. Voter Fraud is not a real threat. It’s an imagined threat amplified by those who want to make it harder for Americans to vote, but setting up a complex procedure to register and to vote.
3
@Jackson - Uhh... North Carolina is currently redoing their 9th Congressional district election because of voter fraud by the winner.
There are several SCOTUS cases involving States who took part in "gerrymandering".
In one minority filled town in Kansas last year, the State closed all voting locations there until a public outcry put pressure on them to open one.
In Florida, in 2018, 65% of voters approved a bill to allow ex-felons to vote (about 1.4 million of them). The current government is trying to find ways to overturn that.
In one heavily populated district near me, they had seven voting locations for the 2012 election. Only one in 2016.
I can go on and on and on, but this isn't about "Liberals" proving it - it's about people finding out and doing something about it. These are things called "facts" - https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fact
1
This country need more leaders like you.
2
Democracy should be government by the representative elected by the governed. If you live someplace, that’s where your governed. That should be the only requirement to vote. Yeah, they’ll be some rapists and muderers. Also some “patriot boys” and “Christian” fascists. Let ‘em all vote. Post office should be the manager of election eligibility.
This is a welcome call to action and optimism. Thank you, Ms. Abrams.
8
Amen!
2
You lose the race for Governor in a democratic year and you blame racism perhaps you should truly look in the mirror why the voters rejected you and your policies in Georgia.
10
@1515732
She did. It was because of racism.
Next.
Not directly apropos, though please bear with me:
Please run for office, Ms. Abrams. We need your smarts and your vision and your principles and your courage. This nation and its imperiled imperfect democracy needs you. In November 2020 the State of Georgia will elect a senator to represent them. At present both of the senators from Georgia are Republicans. Yep. That would be the very same immoral, bad-faith, boot-lickers who have violated their oaths of office and abandoned their Constitutional oversight duties in order to protect and enable the least fit individual we have ever had in the Oval Office who is doing irreparable damage to the wellbeing of our nation and its democracy.
3
As noted by Mike from NJ, it is hogwash. Abrams is a politician who got beat and has made excuses ever since. More importantly, she is the politician who, when her supporters shouted down her white primary opponent and prevented her from speaking, stated the supporters were just exercising their right to free speech. That was a justification that I would find objectionable from any candidate from any party.
I'm not a fan of Governor Kemp but voter registrations increased, not decreased, substantially while he served as Secretary of State.
We certainly have issues in Georgia but being a hotbed of racist voter suppression isn't one.
11
Governor Kemp, a leading expert in voter suppression, has no shame. But then again, he doesn´t believe in democracy.
3
After reading some comments it is apparent that many do not believe there is election fraud.Are you aware that just yesterday the 9th District in North Carolina had to have a redo election because in a tight race the Republican candidate, Mark Harris, was proved to have paid an operative to collect absentee ballots.The election was voided and a whole new Republican field, minus Mark Harris, ran to oppose the Democratic candidate,Dan McCready in an election in September.This is just one example of the type of election fraud that exists and disenfranchises voters.
7
Voter suppression should disgust all Americans who still believe in representative democracy. Apparently there are a significant number of "Americans" in this country who do no longer do.
But as Obama has pointed out, the much more insidious problem are the astonishing number of people who are eligible to vote but choose not to. 61.4% of eligible voters voted in the 2016 election. Who are these people who constitute the remaining 38.6%?!
That's 86 million eligible voters in an election where a mere 70,000 could have flipped the result. Why did they sit at home in the most significant election of their lifetimes?
The numbers who stayed home in 2014 and 2010 are far higher. There's a direct line from these people and Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, and McConnell.
2
Readers may find this article of interest: "Why Georgia is the Place for Black Migration and Politics."
The Abrams' campaign ignited a larger conversation within the black community about developing a statewide base of political power. Her campaign is the vanguard of a drive to convert Georgia to a majority-minority state -- much like the role played by Hawaii, New Mexico, and Utah for majority-minority ethnic and religious groups.
Here is the article: https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/430433-why-georgia-is-the-place-for-black-migration-and-politics
3
According to the Brennan Center for Justice:
"In 2016, 14 states had new voting restrictions in place for the first time in a presidential election. Those 14 states were: Alabama, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin."
It's not just a problem in Georgia.
5
In Australia, voting is mandatory. If voters fail to cast their ballot, they are fined. Elections are held on Saturday. If we adopted this system in the US, there would have to be more polling places, which could be open until the last voter has cast their vote, 24 hours if necessary. The whole system would need to be updated which hopefully would eliminate fraud. In the age of computers that know every move we make, there must be a way to securely count votes. Let's make this an issue in the upcoming election.
I already hear naysayers commenting that low income people work on the weekends or don't have ID.
3
@Alexis I chose not to vote in 2016 because I found both candidates distasteful. I do not support your effort to restrict my freedom by fining me.
2
The Republican Party and 45 are smugly content by engaging in double entendre, resorting to both dog whistles and bullhorns, and veiled threats, to assure electoral survival and Caucasian male control through voter suppression efforts. Inexplicably when confronted with the irrefutable, incontrovertible evidence of electoral fraud engineered, designed, implemented, and executed by North Carolina Republicans to suppress racial and ethnic minority absentee voter participation in the hotly contested Congressional District to steal the election, 45 and the GOP are conspicuously silent. 45 openly campaigned for the GOP contender, embracing him on stage. Once busted, 45 runs for cover. No outcry, no condemnation, and no denunciation of their very own, of course, for committing electoral fraud. That would be biting the hand that feeds them. Rather, 45 persists with the voter fraud scare tactic that 'those people' appear in disguises and show up to vote once, twice, and even thrice! Governor Abrams is absolutely positively right! Active voter registration activity, especially registering racial and ethnic minorities, will serve to convert Georgia, Florida, and Texas from red to blue. Many Americans, black and white, died to make the Voting Rights Act of 1965 a reality. America had a pro civil rights President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, committed to see justice achieved through the ballot. 45 is the antithetical anti civil rights president dedicated to white skin privilege. Race matters.
7
I agree with Ms. Abrams. The right to vote is a cherished right that is being compromised on many fronts, including the impact of census questionnaires and gerrymandering. I wish she would reconsider running for the Senate where she may have a more national impact.
6
What's really frightening are the reactions of some of the letter-writers.
Free and fair elections - the ability of each citizen who chooses to vote to be able to do so - is the foundation of the republic. No matter why Ms. Abrams or anyone else believes an election was not conducted fairly, we should all be actively working to see that elections are held in a fair manner and that all citizens who want to cast a vote are enabled to do so.
I believe it would help if more people organized to register and educate voters, and to encourage and enable them to get to the polls on time in every community in the country. That may mean networks to keep people informed about where they have to vote, what documents they may need, what time limitations exist, and volunteer drivers or buses to get people to & from the polls. It would also include materials in the first-languages of people locally.
6
Ms. Abrams continues to deny that she lost. This a dangerous narrative and one that has been shown to be false. Disappointing that the Times chose to give her a forum to repeat that lie.
52
@John In spite of documented, reported evidence of voter suppression?
22
What is dangerous is that Republicans continue to refuse to acknowledge that voter suppression exists and many were denied the right to vote. In the short term, this may help them get their candidates elected. In the longer term, this will only work towards destroying our democracy.
16
@Kathleen Warnock Despite what she claims there was no voter suppression in GA. We automatically register people when they get a drivers licences or state ID. The purging that she keeps complaining about doesn't make any sense. I have been a registered voter in GA since turning 18 and have never had a problem. Voter of color endured three to five hour lines on election day is another cry wolf. We have early voting in GA to make it even easier. There is no reason to stand in line on election day. It's super easy to get an absentee ballot as well, I've had to do that. She's just a sore loser.
12
Why can’t she get over the simple fact that she lost because the actual Governor of GA got more votes than she did. I can’t imagine what the response would have been had MsAbrams won and Mr Kemp was going down this path of bitterness and lying about how she won but her voters were kept from the polls.
37
@stan
Because Kemp was lieutenant governor in charge of voting while he was running for the governorship and he disenfranchised over 50, 000 people 75% of which were people of color or women. Talk about conflict of interest!
20
@stan It's obvious you have missed the point of the piece which is unfortunate. Both of us live in a state which hasn't had to deal with voter suppression. For those in other areas who have, they don't deserve such a cavalier uninformed rebuke from you.
6
@stan
Mr. Kemp went down “this path of lying” proactively, before the election. Ms.Abrams response we just read.
1
Thanks for this piece by Stacey Abrams who was cheated of victory in Georgia. The voter purge is one of the major problems affecting democracy in the US as well as all the other ways of disfranching people, mostly African Americans. As Greg Palast has documented absent the "fraud of fraud" by the GOP Trump would not have been elected in 2016.
The Dems should have made this a core issue but instead chose a joke as Chomsky said from the start, I am referring to the conspiracy theory of Russiagate. Now not fighting the real issues that ordinary citizens care about puts the Dems is an awkward position. Tulsi Gabbard in one interview says that in her many town hall meetings she had a grand total of one question about Russia or Mueller. Instead of shooting themselves in the foot by following A. Schiff the Dems should fight Abrams's fight.
1
Gossip and innuendo should be the title of this column. If you really think there is voter suppression then I suggest a formal study, not a rehash of anecdotal information and supposition.
32
@Ralphie
Where were you during the 2016 election?
13
@Ralphie
Perhaps if you lose your voting rights you would feel differently . Even Georgians agree that this is what happened. These are facts, not gossip.
16
@Ralphie
Thats me! The lady has zero credibility with me.
I'm tired of loose talk and sour grapes toward the votes not counted. Lets hear some solid specifics?
Are not most elections overseen by persons at the state level, who were elected? Not that that fact means they're are the best choice. How does a voter know if their vote was counted?
7
Rather than rely on anecdotal evidence from a candidate who lost a tough election, perhaps we should look at some data. The Census Bureau published voter statistics for the 2018 elections (census.gov). There is a breakout by state and race that shows in Georgia that 66.2% of white (non-Hispanic) were registered and 55.6% of them voted. The statistics for black was 64.7% and 56.3%. Asian and Hispanic numbers were much lower, in the 20% to 35% range.
Doesn't mean that voter suppression doesn't exist, but it seems it is a stretch to say that it is rampant across the state.
5
She is just a sore loser. Everyone got mad at Trump when he said he would have to wait to see what happened with the election. Yet Abrams is treated a s a hero. There was massive African American turnout in Georgia and Florida. Anyone who wanted to vote could if they just used a little bit of effort. She should identify those 40, 000 people who claim they were denied there rights. Lets investigate. She and Andrew Gillum and their enablers are the ones who are undermining democracy.
7
@samten171
Unfortunately, the effort that African Americans need to expend just to become registered in many states has voters of color staying at home on election night. Abrams did an outstanding job of presenting all of the obstacles that people of color face.
Not everybody who wanted to vote got the chance. You sir, are not a patriot.
3
Those readers who feel that voter fraud is to be feared more than voter suppression no doubt pine away for an America that had yet to experience the Civil Rights Movement. They want to see to it that the election of Barack Obama was an aberration, not to be repeated in the future.
7
As a person whose health care and Social Security benefits got screwed up because of a hyphenated last name, I understand completely the issues Mr. del Rio faced with voting. The abuse of power occurs when even minor technical issues are used to deny justice, when through conscious acts people are denied basic precious constitutional rights. I am in complete agreement with Ms. Abrams -- when one person's rights get trampled upon, all society loses. We must remain forever vigilant.
5
The essence of white privilege is the idea that because no one suppressed MY vote, then I can’t believe that ANY votes were suppressed. This is willful callousness to the problems of others simply because they are not your problems. Racism today is not hatred of others as much as it is simply not caring about the issues of people who don’t look like you.
It should shame us all that this article even needs to be written.
11
No one paying attention to the sham that Brian Kemp was allowed to run in Georgia would be surprised that the citizens would be resentful.
Kemp was allowed to cheat in plain sight. Suppress voters with arbitrary rules, close down polling places in black areas and then mess with the recount.
I can say it looked like blatant cheating to this yankee.
9
All people born or naturalized in the US should automatically be registered to vote.
6
Actually, given how very few people of African descent immigrate to America compared to other places, African-Americans should become less and less of an important demographic in America over the coming years and their political importance most likely is peeking about now.
1
Please run for the Senate, Ms. Abrams.
We need your brains and your courage.
6
Stacey Abrams, a defender of Democracy??? That’s rich - this is the same woman who refused to concede the election she lost, and continuously defames the whole thing as “rigged.”
She doesn’t believe in Democracy at all.
6
Her election was rigged. Brian Kemp was allowed to get away with a lot.
3
In Trump's Florida we voted to give people the right to vote with criminal records because every citizen should vote.Hillary and Stacey Abrams have one thing in common they can't accept the the voters decision.Making sure that people are truly qualified to vote will suppress the vote count but it needs to be done.
1
Republicans are behind every single instance of voter suppression I’ve ever heard or read about. Of course that was before the Republican Party decided it’s acceptable for its own presidential candidate actively to seek and welcome damaging information on its opponents from hostile foreign governments. A political party starved for relevance in a world passing it by is clearly a dangerous beast needing to be brought to heel, and fast.
5
@John-Manuel Andriote:
"Republicans are behind every single instance of voter suppression I’ve ever heard or read about."
Oh?
You clearly missed this, from the New York democrat primary in 2016
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/23/nyregion/routine-voter-purge-is-cited-in-brooklyn-election-trouble.html?module=inline
"The mysterious loss of roughly 125,000 Democratic voters from the election rolls in Brooklyn for one of the most hard-fought presidential primaries in years seemed to have occurred during what should have been a routine removal of residents who were ineligible to vote."
Now that's what I call voter suppression.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
1
Stacey Abrams ought to stop this nonsense. Black voter turnout in Georgia was the highest ever in the 2018 election. Just another loser. If she wants to address voter oppression, I'd like to hear what she has to say about the closed and restrictive primaries held by both parties, at taxpayer expense, that shuts out the 40% of voters who are registered Independents unless they explicitly renounce their decision NOT to join a party.
4
This is so much nonsense. Far more dangerous to electoral integrity are loosey-goosey Democrat schemes to encourage voter fraud or foster electoral chaos by refusing to allow states to clean up voter rolls after many years of neglect.
The goal should not be to encourage as many stupid people to vote as possible, or encourage them to vote based on "what's in it for me?"
Like Hillary Clinton, Abrams is blaming her defeat on phantom demons. In her case she blames racists for stealing her election. In Clinton's case, it was the Russians. In fact, both were beaten in free and fair elections. Their weaknesses as candidates were the cause of their defeats.
The implication that any effort to guarantee the integrity of the electoral system is racist is palpably false. Black people in most states vote either in equal numbers to white people or exceed the numbers of whites who vote.
7
@Dougal E, Stacey Abrams is a righteous democratic powerhouse. Be prepared to hear lots more from her in the next several years.
2
Ms. Abrams,
With all due respect, you won't be taken seriously unless and until you reconsider your quite clownish efforts to deny your election loss.
Oh, the irony of the left's pre-election worries about whether or not Trump would concede if he were to lose.
It would be humorous if it weren't so pathetic.
5
When you lose, it’s because you weren’t that good. Get over it Stacey!
4
When unqualified candidates and disorganized, hyper-ideological parties like the Democrat party must resort to enfranchising felons and illegal aliens, you know they are frantic to take power by any means necessary. When they write these articles in the face of data showing an historic expansion of minority voting, you know they have lost their minds. These candidates and this party are dangerous to our Republic. They are power hungry ideologues.
7
Power is never given. It must be taken.
2
Today's "Night Riders", as in days of old, wear suits and ties in the state house.
And like the days of old allow the police to do the killing.
All too often the modern lynch mob wears blue, and gets away with it.
3
Why do Republicans feel the need to cheat to gain victories?
Can't they win on their own merits and policies?
It seems to me there are plenty of states where mostly white people voting for white candidates, who espouse pro white ideals and disapprove of the changing demographic that is the USA, can vote for all white representatives and find peace and happiness with their white counterparts in their hoped for white dream landscape.
Please go off to your little corners of society and let the rest of us try and make a way in this hoped for great melting pot that the USA is becoming.
Signed,
An old white guy
3
This perfectly explains the Democratic Party mindset. They are perpetually living in the 1960s. During recent elections, African American voter participation has approximately equaled participation by whites and some years African Americans have had the highest voter participation of any racial or ethnic group.
5
When ever I read about voter suppression and matters of the Voting Rights Act (or Shelby's limitation of it) I am reminded of how the South remains a hostile place to non-whites.
I hope Ms. Abrams can prevail against the forces that deny access to the ballot box, but at the pace court decisions are generated, Georgia may have to go through another election cycle that unfairly targets minorities using the tactics she explains.
After losing the race for governor, she was encouraged to try for the federal senate. Obviously she doesn't want to try to take the Senate given that she is certain her constituency would be limited in their capacity to vote without the implementation of reforms.
Prudently, she is working to create a more democratic, transparent and accessible electoral system before she tries to take a state wide seat again. Good Luck with the courts.
1
Americans have to fight for the right to vote in the United States. Let that sink in.
90
@PC - And it's going to get worse. I put nothing, and I mean nothing past this bogus administration when it comes to cheating.
4
This is a powerful, fact-ful essay. It reminds me of MLKJrs letter from Birmingham jail--hopefully similar, as a prelude to change as significant as the civil rights movement and voting rights act of the 1960s.
The challenge for 2020 is not between angry white men in the upper midwest and energized black women in the red south.
Both groups must give their all, to campaign for time honored values - the rule of law (Kamala Harris and Stacey Abrams are experts), the right to vote, fair wages, and the dignity of work.
1
Thank you Stacy.
You were completely robbed of a fair election, and it broke my heart watching you lose in November. The race was completely unfair and it is infuriating to see Brian Kemp running Georgia.
1
The single most important issue in our country, outlined perfectly by our country’s single most presidential contender. This is a fight for the soul of our nation. Either we’re a democracy or we’re not.
Here’s one way forward... Let Georgia’s loss be America’s gain: Run, Stacey, Run!
2
I am a Georgia voter. It is hard to comprehend from a distance the impact of this skewed governor’s race in 2018 as it leaned towards Kemp and away from Stacy.
Thus article summarizes the outrage but not the trauma of voter anxiety and impotence in the face of organized voter disenfranchisement.
All citizens suffer from a system that enables elected incumbent officials to use their power and elected office to keep their jobs.
This focused attack on voters of color is just the beginning of the outrage caused by an empowered incumbent army against voters. We must establish a rule of law that protects all voters.
5
Whether Mr. Kemp did or did not actually engage in electoral improprieties, he certainly made no effort at all to avoid the appearance of impropriety. It speaks to the electoral climate in Georgia an elsewhere, that many of these moves that resulted in the disenfranchisement of actual citizens, were made so boldly. Laws and regulations are not the only media through which injustices are practiced - on election day, asking people if they had voted yet, we encountered two misinformed citizens - one expected that he would be able to vote using his cellphone, and another expected that he would be able to vote at any polling place in Georgia. One wonders where these rumors get started, but you do not need to look very far in Georgia before your eyes fall on groups perfectly situated to engage in disinformation campaigns.
3
It sounds like the Georgia Republican party led by their now governor Brian Kemp may have stolen the 2018 election from Stacey Abrams. She has every reason to be angry. Further, this problem is not exclusive to Georgia. It is, as Ms. Abrams suggests, an historical national issue grounded in our history of race based voter suppression. As a former Jim Crow and slave state, the Georgian Republican Party should be shamed by this. I imagine they are not. They live in their own bubble.
5
Bravo Ms. Abrams, bravo.
Liberals are fine with IDs as long as they are free and easily obtainable. Republicans in power decided to accept gun licenses but reject college student ID because that favors populations that are more likely to vote for them.
Republicans in power also decided to say you need a motor vehicle department ID, then close almost all motor vehicle offices in poor and minority areas because they know it will hinder those likely to vote for Democrats.
Republicans in power decide to have gar fewer voting machines in strongly area that highly favor Democrats to force them to wait long times in long lines to vote as a means to drive down voting numbers.
Add in massive egregious voter suppression by Republicans and it is clear they are anti-democracy and only care about power.
8
@Vinny...
Firearms licenses are actual government documents. Student identification cards are not.
That's why one is acceptable as ID, and the other is not.
A student ID is about as reliable as a government document as is a membership card at BK's or Sam's club.
You're trying to tell us that a rotten pear is a pink-lady apple
1
This voter suppression is part of Karl Rove’s permanent majority doctrine, along w/stacking the courts w/conservative judges.
2
The abortion fiasco is threatening Georgia’s women, Atlanta’s reputation as a major public health, medical and business destination and medical center. Ms Abrams needs to quit the professorial sermonizing and get in the senate race!
1
@Hopeless2017 If she expects to have an effect on the Georgia legislation then she needs to remain in Georgia.
Where are Democrats when it comes to right the wrongs in the voting procedures down South? Why is this a burden solely carried by Ms Abrams? She lost an election because of what can be characterized as “fraud by a rigged system”, and yet she is alone in having to right this wrong and people can say she is a “sore loser”, as one reader characterized her in the comments I read.
I am appalled that such blatant discriminatory practices are still employed in the 21st century to disenfranchise voters of color and various ethnicities.
Democrats grow a spine already and DO something don’t just complain and whine about how awful Trump and his supporters across the country are! You are not going to toss the lot out by whining and complaining, you must ACT and have some solid proposal to change the status quo.
Miss Abrams, be brave and run for president.
1
This is the very top sin of the Republican Party which, ironically, was, once upon a time, the Party of freedom for black people. However, in the middle 1960's, with guidance from its newly formed "Dirty Tricks" team (Atwater, Manifort, etc.) devised Nixon's (remember him, that other Republican crook) so-called "Southern Strategy" and adopted segregationism/bigotry with alacrity. By now, unfortunately, many misinformed folks really believe that there is a "voter fraud" issue. But, of course, they systematically overlook that it is the Republican's who are best at it.
2
When you claim to have won an election that you lost by fifty-odd thousand votes, all you need is a glass of wine to morph into a bitter Hillary Clinton.
Remember, progressives have spot-the-lie contests these days.
7
I think everyone should vote except those convicted felons who killed another possible voter. Why should they get to vote twice?
2
Stacy, the black vote was not suppressed ... black turnout in Georgia was at record levels (so you lost fair and square) and nationally black voter turnout was at 12 % of total turnout, comparable to the Obama years.
8
@vs72356 -- some dubious mathematical assumptions here. The fact that the black turnout was at record levels does not mean that votes were not suppressed. It is entirely possible that the turnout could have been significantly higher but for voter suppression.
1
Go get 'em Stacy - everybody's vote deserves to be counted but the system is working against that right. While you're at it, please run for Senate - we need you there.
From some of the comments here, I'm suspecting Stacey Abrams is famous enough and enough of a threat to come complete with her own army of misinformation trolls nipping at her heels wherever she posts.
2
@RRI: Yup, looks like the trolls are out in force today here. Amazing how nasty and unreasonable some people will be, and that they will go to such lengths to harass a reasonable woman who is rationally critiquing a system that has been broken on purpose by Republicans desperately trying to cling to power and privilege.
Ms. Abrams doesn't seem interested in voter suppression other than how it affects non-whites. Is it because non-whites don't experience it or is it because she doesn't care? Either way it is a biased, bigoted approach as we are all equal and an injustice against one is an injustice against all.
5
@Kurt Pickard It is because she doesn't care and has nothing but this issue.
1
Nowadays every thing must be free AND easy. Jobs, and especially voting—it is foolish to deny voting rights to any individual, or anyway impede their access to the voting box, particularly death row inmates
Please also demand paper ballots and secure voting machines.
3
"Hi, I am Stacey Abrams and I am here to remind you I lost my election. Despite unprecedented turn-out, Oprah and Obama, I failed to win. Taking a page from the Clinton Democrat playbook, I have determined that nefarious forces cost me my rightful seat. Meanwhile, I am using my free airtime to pre-position myself to be Vice President. I hope you will join me in complaining about election rules. You can all make it up to me by putting me in as Vice President."
11
Give us one concrete example of voter suppression.
Yeah, I thought so.
9
Have Republicans lost the ability to read or to understand logic? Either way we are in trouble.
1
Did you read the article? There are examples well laid out and documented. Refute them if you can.
3
@George Orwell: OK. For the record I'm a white woman and currently live in Texas. Texas and Florida are the only states I've lived where I've had to wait for more than an hour in line to vote on Election Day. After having that first long line experience in Texas, I switched to early voting. On business days in the two weeks leading up to any election, I could go to a polling place and vote, usually within minutes. But the minute the courts struck down oversight of voting in Texas, the Republican dominated state legislature went into action. one of the things they did was to cut back on early voting. Now I have less time to get to a polling place. They also cut back the number of polling places. Now I have fewer places to cast a vote. It's not impossible, but it is now harder to vote than it was previously. I live in a big city, where there are multiple polling places, but Texas has vast amounts of rural land, and cutting back the numbers of polling places in rural areas has made it extremely difficult for rural residents to vote, and only those with transportation and plenty of time are able to get to a polling place. If you're dependent on others to drive you, or you have an hourly wage job that doesn't pay you when you have to take time off to go vote, then it becomes all the more difficult to vote. That means the poor, the disabled, seniors, and the working class in general are disproportionately affected by these cutbacks and attempts to suppress voter turnout.
4
The voter suppression which you so accurately portray plus the fact that Russia and other enemies are able to hack into our databases(two in Florida) makes it abundantly clear that an accurate vote count in 2020 is going to be a challenge.Amy Klobuchar in the Senate has introduced a sweeping voter’s rights act-For The People-which matches one already passed by the House.She can not get a vote on this necessary Act because, you guessed it, Mitch McConnell will not take it to the floor.The Republicans continue to ignore the Constitution and their oaths of Office.They love to wave the flag but when it comes to fair and free elections they resort to tactics that are not American or legal-they betray the freedoms so many have fought for.
3
I believe in racial equality, but for some that seems to mean that someone like me, a white man, doesn't deserve the same status as everyone else. My point is that I realize that people of color and women have faced hardships over the years. As a gay white man I've faced them all my life but when I read an article addressed to "people of color", how exactly am I supposed to react? On the one hand I'm viewed as the "enemy" and yet on another it's realized that change also requires my assent or compliance. The bottom line is that while I realize that this country does not afford equal rights to all it's citizens on a variety of levels (as I know well since I'm subjected to inequality regardless of what non-white homosexual males might believe) the way to get me on board with actively supporting someone's cause is not by trying to stigmatize me or identify me as part of the problem. THAT is the issue I have with Stacey Abrams and her type of politics. I'm never going to support someone becoming more empowered IF that also requires that I disenfranchise myself at the same time.
35
@ManhattanWiliam: would you care to explain how Ms. Abrams is attempting to disenfranchise you? I am also a gay white male, and I have neither seen nor read anything at all to suggest what you claim.
156
@ManhattanWilliam How are you being disenfranchised? I am also a gay white man. I have never felt "disenfranchised". Yes, I was bullied as a child and faced discrimination growing up in a very small Wisconsin town. But let's be real. Neither you nor I are a *visible* minority. We still have two-thirds of the "straight white male" that gives us a leg up in this broken society.
53
@ManhattanWilliam The sense of grievance never ends, does it? Go vote for Trump about it.
16
Ms. Abrams, exactly....
I voted for Stacey Abrams in Georgia’s last election. Which was a farce, manipulated by her opponent, through his position as Secretary of State.
That kind of managed interference has infected many elections due to gerrymandering as well as other premeditated tactics. It should be clear that the ones who benefit know they cannot win fairly.
5
Brian Kemp stole the Governor's job from Ms. Abrams, and is there illegally. He was the person to sign that blazingly cruel anti-abortion law in Georgia. When a poor 11- year- old girl is raped by her father, Planned Parenthood will be gone, and she will have no resources. If Kemp's wife is raped and impregnated, she will be whisked to a private clinic for a discreet procedure.
12
@Ellen One topic at a time, Ellen.
Since we guarantee the vote to all citizens once they turn 18 it ought to be easier than it is to register to vote in federal and state wide elections than it is. Making it difficult for people to vote, register to vote, or to know that their votes have been counted correctly is foolish and counterproductive. Preventing people from registering, arresting those who try to help citizens register is wrong.
The arguments about illegal immigrants voting are incorrect because that doesn't occur. No illegal immigrant wants that attention. However, the attitudes displayed towards anyone who sounds foreign or looks foreign are enough to deter more than a few naturalized citizens from voting. Suppression of the vote because a party doesn't like how a group may vote is criminal and ought to be prosecuted. Attempts to intimidate voters are criminal and should be prosecuted.
My suggestion to people who do not like sharing the country with African Americans, naturalized citizens, and others who do not look like them or think like them is to move elsewhere. I hear that Russia likes people who frighten others. In America this sort of intimidation should be out of the question.
5/16/2019 11:09am
6
@hen3ry Just so you know, Ms Abrams wants to extend the right to vote to illegal immigrants. This was expressed in one of her campaign speeches. She also wants to make Georgia a sanctuary state for illegal immigrants.
So while you may think illegal immigrant voting is not a problem, think about what Ms Abrams wants to do.
1
@Margo funny, her piece doesn't mention that. Please provide a source for your assertions.
Although I do, of course, concur with Ms Abrams on the intrinsic issues that she raises, can she guarantee that black candidates elected to office will not be as equally discriminatory as their white forbears towards identifiable ethnic groups, and that includes Caucasians? Racism is a core element of American democracy - even a bloody civil war did not chasten racial bias. It may have even made it worse given the recalcitrance of the defeated. Vengeance against previous oppressors will not ameliorate the precipitous decline of America’s social state.
I fear that we may be asking too much of human nature not to even historic scores.
3
"We do things right, because that is the way it should be"
Oh please...give me a break. Person of color here, Gen X, have never experienced any problems in voting....in any election I so chose to participate in.
The Democratic party has to stop with the boogey man mantra and get back to getting things done in the way of progressive policies and practices. It is easy to blame your failures on this or that without looking inward.
It is a difficult task to do the work, get things done through compromise, and lead people forward to a better society. The sooner our politicians and electorate stop worrying about the next Tweet or sound bite and vilify the opposite party members the better off our country will be.
8
The fact the you have not experienced difficulty voting does not mean it doesn’t happen. There is a system in this country (and across the world) that was developed to keep certain people in power — those with wealth, privilege, and often white skin. Count yourself lucky that your voice has been heard through your vote. And don’t negate the real work required to ensure all citizens can exercise that same right.
2
Have to completely disagree with you when it comes to the United States. Do explain this shadow system of oppression. Low voter participation due to an uninterested populous is not suppression.
1
@Nature Voter: What helps to make potential voters uninterested in politics? When it becomes obvious that no matter how often they go to the polls, nothing changes. I've voted in every election I've been eligible for since 1980. My candidates rarely win. As far as I'm concerned, the country has been going downhill since Reagan was elected. But I keep going to the polls, keep encouraging people to vote, keep volunteering for campaigns, and keep on fighting. And if politically dedicated people like me get discouraged, just imagine what it's like for people who are less involved, but who trudge out to the polls anyway, rain or shine, to cast their futile votes. I knock on doors and talk to voters personally. By far the most popular reason for not caring and not voting is, "it doesn't make a difference, the system is rigged by those already in power." If all of those people who tell me that could only get together and hear themselves saying it, they might be surprised at their numbers. And they might be surprised at what their numbers could do to the status quo if they actually all decided to vote anyway, regardless of the outcome.
1
THANK YOU Stacey Abrams!!! This is a huge issue that could easily, and already has, turned elections. Most recently it helped elect Trump.
His total margin in key states was few hundred thousand votes.
Republicans know minorities are not a big part of their base(how could they be?) and have been working day and night to keep them from voting.
Keep up your great and important work!!!
2
Ms. Abrams:
You and I met. For a nanosecond. You remember me, right? :-) I will refresh your memory. I met you in 2017 at an Emily's List Luncheon. We were with big time donors—so our table mates included Emily List President and Jacky Rosen. Not used to rubbing shoulders with notables, I was already flying high and feeling inspired and excited etc when you got up to speak.
I listened to you MESMERIZED. It was my political falling-in-love moment. My "where have you been all my life" experience in politics. To be clear, I am not hitting on you. I just like your politics.
After everyone got up to speak, there was one clear star. The line of people waiting for you was long. Let me tell you something about me. I am the biggest Broadway fan you will ever meet, but I could never wait by the back door for a photo things. Too proud. Yet there I stood patiently and when I walked up to you, I said "I just wanted to speak to a future President." I want to say you hugged me, but that may be wishful thinking.
Why the love affair? Uh I don't know, the idea that someone sees "service" as a verb was intoxicating. Caring about others, seeing the nuances around power, being pragmatic, saying things as they are without offending…being ethical. Moral. Things that used to matter.
Like Cinderella, I left the political ball in my pumpkin. A year later, I ran for school board. That luncheon changed everything. Thank You.
A Fan
4
There was no suppression in the Georgia governs 2018 election. In fact blacks voted in higher percentage than whites or in previous elections.
5
@wes evans
Wes,
How is your first blanket statement in any way supported by your second? In a hotly contested election, black turnout can obviously be both higher and suppressed.
In fact, it was the higher anticipated participation by blacks that made the suppression their vote so critical--leading to Kemp's margin of victory just over 1%.
Exactly which of the several forms of suppression Abrams clearly lays out do you say is untruthful?
2
Perfecting our voting system shouldn't be a partisan issue.
We should all want to maximize legal voting.
There are legitimate concerns about the difficulties of voting and there are legitimate concerns about legality of voting. It's a balance. And it's a matter if you are more comfortable with false positives or false negatives.
Let's all try to get beyond "this side is trying to rig the system" because chances are, they are not. They are just like you but they are more focused on the other side of the balance.
Aside from the extreme Machiavellian political operators, you and your fellow Americans who you disagree with are not bad or evil or dumb. There is a lot of middle ground, once we stop clenching our fists and start extending our hands.
4
Remember when it was dangerous to baselessly claim that an election was rigged? I guess that only applies when Trump says it
8
@Tom
I guess "baselessly" would apply, at least until
until you read the article. Then it gets a lot harder.
Which of the many cases for suppression can you show to be baseless?
2
Ms Adams is welcome to press her voting rights crusade in states like Illinois. Democrats have gerrymandered the voting districts to assure that Democrat majorities are elected.
8
Thank you @staceyabrams. For too long Republicans only win by denying people who disagree with them the right to vote.
1
@Daniel A. Greenbaum
Seriously? Wow
Your perspective might be broadened a bit once you leave the provincial enclave of NYC or the north east I95 corridor.
1
@ML Clinton, Gore, Obama and Clinton all won a majority of the popular vote. Democrats regularly win the majority of the vote for both the Senate and the House. On top of this the Republicans engage in the lie of voter fraud and suppress the vote. Republicans can't win in fair election. In NYC or out it is still the truth.
Thank you for your crucial and vital work on voting rights. Georgia's election, run with so many dirty tricks disguised as policy, was a travesty of democracy.
1
Let us hope this woman never reaches high office. The joke that black voter suppression affects elections is just that. But now they have found a new line, that being that felons are not allowed to vote in most states. We have been told so often of the unfairness of the high percentages of black citizens incarcerated as if this is somehow is not their own doing.
The fact is that 46% of eligible voters don't vote and this has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. The number is probably higher because there are still hundreds of thousands of illegal votes cast but that's OK because they are mainly for the Democrats.
6
Thank you for being a true American Patriot. We must join your Fair Fight and not let anyone divide us until Trumpism in its many many ugly forms is totally defeated in every county of our land.
1
it's easy to see voter restriction tactics like those in Georgia as racially motivated - because they are. but on a broader level, these restrictions and complications are aimed at the broader category of probable Democratic voters of any and all races. Republicans know they are the dinosaurs of American politics, so they try to win the most likely way they know how: by cheating. Republican attacks on voting rights are a sign of their grasping desperation and political weakness, as well as their basic dishonesty.
1
“The key difference between a democracy and a republic lies in the limits placed on government by the law, which has implications for minority rights. Both forms of government tend to use a representational system — i.e., citizens vote to elect politicians to represent their interests and form the government. In a republic, a constitution or charter of rights protects certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away by the government, even if it has been elected by a majority of voters. In a "pure democracy," the majority is not restrained in this way and can impose its will on the minority.” (See https://www.diffen.com/difference/Democracy_vs_Republic). The US, like France, is not a simple republic, but a constitutional democratic republic, which means the constitution can be changed through democratic elections in which a majority votes in favour of formal constitutional amendments. The voter suppression tactics the Republican states are employing are not based on any such constitutional amendments and are therefore illegal. If lawsuits to fight against these scurrilous practices go to the Supreme Court and the Court lets them stand (as a hyper-partisan bench might), then country will be on a path of grave peril.
1
What Stacey Abrams is advocating must become a norm for voting integrity across the country. Voting equality will do more to improve race relations than any reparations proposed.
1
Okay Ms. Abrams if you feel that strongly about voter suppression how about criticizing Corey Booker for supporting Michael Bloomberg when he was running his last time for re-election as mayor of NYC (and whom, by the way, was running against an African-American Dem) who was giving hidden money to challenge Latino and black voters. And you might also criticize Bloomberg, too.
3
Voter Suppression is unAmerican, PERIOD. You can't claim you're a patriot and in the next breath explain away gamesmanship of the fundamental rights of Americans to vote. No matter the race or sex or religion.
And there are no "sour grapes" when you've won and everyone knows it.
Ms. Agrams was robbed. Plain and simple. She should be the governor of Georgia. The dirty tricks that cost her (and the good citizens of Georgia) to lose the election are a slippery slope. Today there might be suppression on the basis of one's address, the color of one's skin, etc., tomorrow there will be suppression on the basis of one's sexual orientation, age, education, socio-economic status, ad nauseam.
1
To the commenters saying this op-ed smacks of sour grapes: If that's truly the case, Ms. Abrams's campaign won't go very far.
Unfortunately, there is lots of evidence pointing to voter suppression efforts over much of the country, not just in Georgia
1
Important thing in life is to be a good loser, not a sore loser. When RN lost to JFK in 1960,was blasted by the press much as President Trump is today, Nixon could have made a strong case for a recount, given the widespread and well known irregularities in the voting in Cook County and elsewhere which could, if corrected, have changed the outcome.But he did not do so. When JFK's father, Joseph Kennedy,openly bought votes in w. VA which enabled his son to snatch an almost certain victory from Hubert Humphrey, Humphrey said nothing. Both RN and HH acted as statesmen, Ms Abrams, actions which you should do well to emulate. No one likes a chronic complainer. YOU LOST, fair and square.Congratulate Gov. Kemp and offer to help him in any way you can to improve conditions for the down and out in your homestate.You will earn people's res[pect in doing so!
4
@Alexander Harrison
"YOU LOST, fair and square."
Well, Mr. Harrison, it appears that examining the "fair and square" part was the point of the whole article.
Which of Abram's cases for voter suppression are you refuting, and on what basis?
In Kemp's 1% margin of victory, "fair and square" would likely have turned the race to Abrams.
2
It's all about changing demographics. The white population in the U.S. is declining while the Latino population and African American population increases. White conservatives see their influence and power slowly waning and they will do everything and anything to hold on to power. Now is the time to hold politicians and other accountable. We face a South African situation where a small minority of people will control the franchise and power in the country creating a powder keg situation of anger and resentment.
1
Not just Georgia! On May 2, 2019 Tennessee Governor Lee signed a bill making it potentially criminal to submit voter registration forms that had even minor errors such as spelling. Yes criminal. Tennessee has the second worse voter registration record of all states. Tennessee is also deep Red with a Republican super majority. These same Republican super majority passed the most restrictive voting laws in our country. Deep Red Tennessee or deep Red Georgia take your pick. Same party, same outcome.
1
The occurrence of illegals voting is a much more prevalent problem than the supposed voter suppression imagined by Mrs. Abrams.
5
@Michael. So true. I was offered to register to vote at the DMV office in Bridgeport, CT, and they saw my green card, so, I am not a citizen. The employee went dead silent when I told her I am not a citizen, so it would be illegal for me to vote.
3
@Michael
Ms. Abrams lays out her claims clearly.
If they were "imagined", the Republicans would have a field day with them.
It is finding widespread cases of voting "illegals" that has remained in the "imagined" category.
1
I'm sorry, but there was no voter suppression in her race. None was found. In fact, her comments were insulting to minorities. Claiming that the Georgia registration form was suppressing votes? Go read it like I did. It doesn't ask for race. Name, date of birth, address, and they have to match. If she's saying that blacks can't figure out those three things, whites can, I'll let her make that argument.
What was worse was her inability to do math, percentages in particular during her race when she somehow thought that the uncounted votes were going to get her to 50%. That was painful to watch.
7
I hope Ms. Abrams will continue this crucial, important, vital work and ignore the calls to run for President. Because unless we address this problem, the Presidential election will be stolen by the GOP, just like the GA governor’s was.
I worry more about voting fraud than voter suppression.
23
@Barbara
Republicans are likely to think that non-republicans are all about voter fraud--a case that has been repeatedly debunked.
Non-Republicans tend to worry about widespread voter suppression, a case which has been repeatedly affirmed in the courts and elsewhere.
Worry about what you want, but also follow the facts.
27
@Barbara
Tens of thousands of "provisional" ballotts remain uncouted from the 2016 election, many in pivotal states where a count may have made the difference.
In Florida, former Governor Jeb Bush has never had to account for the purgation of the voter rolls in the 2000 election.
16
@Barbara
That statement says a lot about who you are. Voter fraud is infinitesimally rare, and many of those who have committed voter fraud are Republicans, the people you're probably not worried about.
In my opinion, anybody who wins an office through all of the devices Republicans use to suppress the vote have committed voter fraud on a grand scale, where voters are the victims, and the electorate as a whole.
Voting is the foundation of our representational democracy. If all who are entitled to vote are discriminated against by those who don't want to accept the data that a free and fair election indicates, then our government might as well allow those in power to appoint school board members, governors, senators, and even presidents. The results of unfair elections amount to just that. According to your model, where you care little for citizens you apparently don't approve of voting, we already live in an Orwellian society, where "Some animals are more equal than others" in his book, Animal Farm.
What I fear is just what Stacey Abrams has written about. The real danger is in voter suppression, not voter fraud. It is a danger to the fabric of our nation.
28
"As more people of color claim political power, efforts to block them will accelerate — unless we act...."
Do we claim political power? Or do we earn it through sharing ideas and getting votes? Because the former sounds like a war strategy of sorts and the latter is more democratic process. I think the statement is revealing in ways it wasn’t meant to be.
3
@PS
Of course we claim political power, PS.
One claims political power when one exercises
one's right to vote. If the right of citizens to vote is taken away through the dubious hurdles Ms. Abrams lays out clearly in the article, one sees an obvious "effort to block them."
If you don't see your vote as political power, time for a quick check on your conception of democracy.
1
Unable to admit she legitimately lost the Georgia gubernatorial election because she was incapable of fostering support for an campaign based on virtually nothing, Ms. Abrams relies on a tired theme of racial prejudice. Tired, at least, to those of us who worked passionately and diligently for voting rights throughout the southern US states in the 1960s and 1970s.
60
@JBC
I don't see how one precludes the other. I know nothing of the details of Ms. Abrams' campaign, but irrespective of its quality, the voter suppression issue is real, enormous, and terrifying (when we can be disenfranchised, we lose legitimate and peaceful venues for change.)
Perhaps you'd prefer a different spokesperson for this issue, but to my mind, she clearly has a substantial following, and thus the power to do a great deal of good. I'm hoping she succeeds, and plan to participate in enfranchisement efforts myself. I'm motivated by her energy to address this.
110
@GM
I wasn't that fast: while Ms. Abrams may not specifically state that suppression falsehood here, it would be the first time she's had a public forum since she lost the Georgia election when she didn't say that.
8
@JBC
You are suggesting she has a tremendous investment in her own misery?
Just wondering.
7
I'm with you, Ms. Abrams. And I'm very white and 80 years old. I was in hopes that our racist past was finally subsiding, but now we see that this was only a 'hope.' I don't understand it, never have. Good luck to you and all the others who are still fighting this battle.
5
And all of this is why the solution to Trumpian corruption is not simply to "vote them out" in 2020. In the present circumstances, the desires of the electorate are not reliably going to be honored.
57
Dear Ms. Abrams,
Many thanks for writing to report what is happening in Georgia and all over America, where a Jamaican friend in our State of New York brought this act of voter suppression against persons of color to my attention a few years ago.
We prepare now to organize car pools to take us to the voting polls, and we go like all Americans, regardless of age or gender, to cast our voice and choice with a sense of responsibility and privilege in so doing.
With Georgia on my mind, please keep reminding us what it takes to be a true American.
Sending appreciation your way for your hard endeavors, representative of those of us unable, who remain unheard in these times of fear, where you and others give us hope for tomorrow, when The Golden Rule is restored.
155
The right to vote is the foundation of American democracy. Thank you Stacey Abrams for fighting for this basic value. Since the Civil War, some Americans have done all they can to suppress this basic American right. When voters across America can easily cast their vote, than our country will move closer to what it was meant to be. That scares a lot of white people. Not this one.
291
@Ed Mahala
Absolutely. And also important is for the voting structure to be designed so hard working Americans that work 3 or 4 jobs at a time to support a good living have an opportunity to vote. Why is voting for an American president restricted to one day between the hours of 6am and 8pm? That is incredibly ridiculous. It needs to be easier to vote and it should take place over a 24-48 hour period perhaps including a weekend day such as Friday/Saturday OR Sunday/Monday. And why are absentee ballots the last to be counted? These should be counted first, not as if it is an afterthought. Our legislators can make changes to the voting apparatus and structure so that ALL Americans have the opportunity to vote. They can also take efforts to ensure that foreign countries are not hacking our voting system or our social media platforms to favor a particular party.
12
@Rain In recent elections there has been a huge increase in advance voting - where temporary polls are set up in libraries and community centers and open on weekends. Also, the advance voting by submitting ballots by mail has greatly increased.
The election that Abrams lost had a record number of ballots submitted. A record number - meaning more than any other.
It's hard to consider the effort to allow voters so much convenience and the record number of ballots as the result of systematic and rampant voter suppression, but there we have it.
1
@Ed Mahala My white parents worked the polls for 40+ years and my 82 year old father still does. Every election. Every registered citizen gets to vote, and no one is afraid of color. There might be (begrudging) recognition of party line differences, but color isn't ever the talk at the table. Don't create false narratives about what white people do. It's destructive.
1
My paternal black African American ancestors were enslaved on plantations east of Atlanta Georgia where they were owned by and bred with my white European American ancestors.
Until General William Tecumseh Sherman came by on his way towards Savannah, Georgia. Rather than be free near the land and people of their bondage, they made a symbolic and real exodus along with a few other families to a land they named New Canaan.
My paternal grandparents and their kids including my father fled Atlanta for the South Side of Chicago in 1930. After the teenage son of a friend was shot to death in front of his mother without any criminal justice consequences.
My paternal great grandmother died in Atlanta in 1964 and neither she nor any of my great aunts and uncles ever voted in any election to that date. Because of the memory of the reason for their exodus from Atlanta plus the murder of Emmett Louis Till who was from my neighborhood I was not allowed to go South.
The evil activist color aka race bigotry and perfidy of the 5-4 majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States opinion in Shelby County v. Holder cannot be overestimated. By substituting it's ' facts' that color aka race bigotry regarding voting was not a present prevailing reality as determined by bipartisan Congressional hearings and findings to the contrary black voter deterrence and suppression has returned with a Jim Crow Ku Klux Klan vengeance. Effectively gutting the Voting Rights Act paid in blood/tears.
215
@Blackmamba I read your posts all of the time, so it’s interesting to see more of the history. (Btw, glad to see you as a highlight.) If you haven’t already, it would be very powerful to tell your story in a book. And I’d make a small request that you do it without calling for the wipeout of all whites, because I think the story speaks for itself about racism in far more powerful ways than hatefulness does. It speaks truth to power.
13
@Blackmamba thank you for your comment. I can well imagine the fear your family felt. No one should be made to feel unwelcome in their own country when they have abided by the laws, kept up their end of the social contract, and been a good citizen. We are indeed back to square one when it comes to civil rights in America, especially for African Americans.
17
@PS
Thanks.
Since my blood and genes are white, black, brown and yellow I claim my race as human. And my national origin as human. Some of black ancestors and current kin did and are passing for white.
7
I was 20, stationed in Japan when, in 1964, James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner were abducted, tortured and murdered for daring to register black voters. The appalling crime should have told America that the precious franchise of voting is not a right to take for granted. More than half a century later, millions of white Americans just shrug.
Donald Trump’s the president this morning because, by some estimates, 140-million American citizens couldn’t be bothered to betake themselves to the nearest polling place. The cliche “elections have consequences” more than applies here.
Republicans booby-trap Election Day for black folks and other targeted groups because they fear that their agenda is appealing to a minority segment that is only concerned about the twin evils of wealth and power.
The author’s governorship if Georgia was stolen last year in broad daylight. Brian Kemp, a segregationist in the cloth of the Old Confederacy, represents the living vanguard of voter suppression ID laws and other forms of voter obstruction. And the GOP makes no apologies for its bold racism and un-American refusal to recognize the power of the ballot. One cannot imagine long lines and busted machines and surly, sullen election workers in the leafy, brightly-lit, well-paved suburbs of the South.
Without constant vigilance, black folks will find themselves outside the doors of the nation’s banquet hall where, for 243 years, we have been beggars at at a meal that we prepared.
50
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
Dear Mr. Sox,
Your last sentence is pure poetry, you might consider expanding on this, in the future!
3
Is there a middle ground here? Voter suppression is bad. So is voter fraud. We should make it easier for citizens to vote. Part of the problem is that voting is a localized event, meaning that the taxpayer funded support for voting stations and locations is correlated to the economic prosperity of the locale. Lower income areas should be subsidized so that voters there have sufficient support and infrastructure to vote. But we should also have a reasonable process in place to ensure that it is citizens who are voting. I for one believe it is not unreasonable to require that voters provide ID prior to voting. Some will say that disenfranchises certain groups. I say that licenses or ID cards are available to anyone of age and if you can't bother to get one you should realize that you may be restricted from participating in certain activities, like driving a car, flying on a plane or (gasp) voting.
1
@John Unlike driving a car or taking a commercial flight, voting is a constitutional right, not a local privilege.
1
Love, and especially love for one's country,
must sometimes be fierce,
must sometimes say difficult truths,
so that the core of who we are,
of what we stand for, and stand against,
is laid bare in the starkest of terms.
Only then can we see ourselves clearly.
Only then can we see our way forward,
see what lies in our path,
and what is truly at stake.
Ms. Abrams,
My deepest respect.
I've been waiting for someone
on the national stage
to stand up and call it like it is;
compellingly and without reservation.
You have done so with courage,
and with unassailable conviction.
If folks can't vote,
any talk of democracy on their behalf is a cruel joke.
You understand this through lived experience,
and--let us be clear-- so do those
who would deny the right of others to vote.
I don't know where your stand will ultimately take you,
but if there is any justice left in this republic,
you'll find your way to a political position where you can
help us clean up this corrupt mess
and restore our democracy.
Thank you for your continuing courage
in the face of cynical denial of citizen rights.
Such courage has a way of spreading.
2
Bravo, Ms. Adams:
You have said it well. The entire system of democracy is under attack by people who fear anyone who isn't white.
1. Election Day needs to be a holiday so everyone can vote without fear of being docked or fired.
2. No voting machine should be farther than 5 miles from a voter's resdence.
3. Alternatively, "vote by mail" as we do here in Oregon. I fill in my ballot at home, and mail it to the state Secretary of State or simply drop it off at a designated firehouse or library.
4. Register to vote at any DMV office.
Thanks to the SCOTUS, we're back in the 1950's again when it comes to voter disenfranchisement.
4
In these bleak times, with rights being eroded by the government and courts, I am thankful for Stacie Abrams.
2
Most of the voter suppression undertaken by Republicans is unconscious, but no less nefarious. Few actions are more against our Democracy than blocking people from voting regardless of the root cause. Here in California when so many states were erecting barriers after Obama was elected, we did the exact opposite. We made it easier to vote by automatically registering people when they showed up at the DMV to obtain or renew their license and then offered them to vote entirely by mail in the comfort of their homes with feet propped up. That is Democracy in action. Ms. Abrams should be applauded for her efforts. I just made a donation.
1
It's great that Ms. Abrams is determined to stop voter suppression, but in the long term, this will require getting people who share her determination elected. It's not going to happen through the Justice Department; it's not going to happen through the courts. It's not going to happen by moving the Democratic Party toward its far left.
@Ken I can't wait for Abrams to run for Ga Secretary of State.
It is heartening to see Ms Abrams fighting to bring some semblance of justice to our deteriorating and increasingly corrupt voting system. I'm frankly very surprised that this isn't an issue at the top of every Democrat's priority list. Every politician out there engaging in voter suppression has the same goal: to prevent as many Democratic-leaning voters from voting, thus ensuring GOP victories. It says so much about Democrats, none of it good, that most of them aren't fighting these anti-democratic dirty tricks tooth and nail.
And we thought foreign government(s) had surreptitiously intervened to subvert our elections. The extortion of voters rights is home grown as well. Stacey, I wish you were running for the Senate. We need you to take that Senate seat. Please reconsider.
2
Ms Abraham’s you can best fight voter suppression by running for and helping Dems take back the senate, and by your example encouraging several other colleagues in the bloated presidential field to do likewise.
1
@Larry Payton I think she needs to take on the GA Secretary of State position so she can really make a difference.
1
You want to end voter suppression, and I want to end voter fraud.
How about a compromise.
EAch state conducts a detailed post election audit comparing actual voting records vs. deceased files as well as comparing voting records to snowbirds who vote back home and in their Southern 2nd home?
In exchange, we give free voter ID cards to every person who asks for one.
In exchange, we ask that they actually vote in person so we eliminate fraud and encourage voter participation.
After all..if you can get to the bank to cash a check..surely you can get to the polls to cast your vote.
Deal?
2
counter proposal. How about if we do automatic voter registration, anyone can vote by mail or in person, and before any disingenuous discussion regarding voter fraud, you find some real data that shows what we are already doing to prevent voter fraud isn't working. Deal?
2
@William Davis I'm glad you asked. I was part of a project team assigned by the DNC & RNC in the 2000 recount in FL in the 4 counties challenged by Gore.
We compared same day voter data with our deceased file that we licensed to some of the biggest brands in America so they didn't send mail offers to dead people.
We found over 3500 dead people voted for Gore and less than 300 dead people voted for Bush in those 4 counties.
These were people who were dead on the day they voted.
Since SCOTUS ruled as they did, all parties agreed to bury this analysis for fear of anarchy in the streets of America.
A wise decision as you can see the high temperatures that a simple column by a losing candidate in GA can inflame.
Zombie voting is real. It's not a huge problem, but it can result in who wins the White House and whether we get Obamacare or not (Al FRanken's win giving D's a 60 seat majority to ram through ACA).
To me...that's enough of a problem to have to vet every single person who wants to cast a vote in an election. Period. End of sentence.
3
@Erica Smythe
Turning a blind eye to Russian hackers threatening another torpedoing of our next election is the voter fraud to be concerned about. Not brown people with a missing hyphen or black working mothers who must wait 4 hours to vote while comfy white suburbanites waltz in and out of their polling places in minutes. Voter fraud indeed... Such a tired old false equivalency.
In Oregon we vote by mail. With a paper trail. Never hear about voter fraud or suppression. Somehow (thanks Justice Roberts) Jim Crow still lives in the South.
Lets vote the racists out, deal?
1
I'm not for voter suppression, but I do wish that there were more voter education. And I would support IQ and common sense tests for elected officials..
1
A piece by Jason Riley in The Wall Street Journal says, "Data Disproves the 'Voter Suppression' Myth https://www.wsj.com/articles/data-disprove-the-voter-suppression-myth-11557268819 showing that minority voter registration and turnout rose significantly in the states where they were supposedly suppressed.
I would like to see the NYT compare Ms. Adams claims to the official data that Riley cites.
5
Great piece. We have to protect and preserve our Democracy.
2
Not enough people know the history behind voter franchise. They don't understand that there have been and still are some people who believe that not everyone should have the right to vote. Democracy began when powerful lords wrested concessions from kings, who were no longer allowed to make unilateral decisions affecting their territories without taking into consideration the votes of major landholders. For centuries, though, the basic voting model entailed that anyone who wasn't a male landowner could not vote. Women could not vote, slaves could not vote, and men without property could not vote.
We still have a contingent who believe that some people should not vote. They base this claim on the idea that all votes should be informed votes, and that people with insufficient education and/or assets do not have the faculties to make what they consider to be informed decisions.
These anti-voter snobs are a danger to America, and to democracy. They add fuel to the fire for others who think that voting privileges should be based on race and gender, and not merely the attainment of education and property. Why are they dangerous? Because they undermine voters' confidence in themselves and their ability to make decisions. Nobody in this day and age, where secrecy reigns among powerful politicians and businessmen, can make perfectly informed decisions, no matter how well-educated.
Beware of anyone who argues that you should not be able to vote, for any reason whatsoever.
5
When most voters are leery of your positions, the best refuge is an appeal to bigotry. Voter suppression is the flip side of voter fraud.
Brian Kemp may have won anyway — there's no way to know for sure. But his win was not "fair and square" — that IS for sure. The shenanigans and voter suppression efforts that Ms. Abrams outlined did take place, they did have an effect on registration, turnout, and final count, and Kemp was behind them. He wasn't going to chance losing.
6
@Citizen-of-the-World That was a record turnout. Can you explain?
1
YES, Stacey Abrams! You have landed on one of this country's most disturbing issues--voter suppression and manipulation. Keep at it. Please.
I have lived and voted in Ohio for 30 years. My congressional and state districts have been outrageously gerrymandered for all of these years. Each census these voting demarcations have been drawn in an even more precise and insidiously-rigged way. Voters in Ohio do not pick their representatives. Representatives pick their voters.
I have learned it is a total fabrication to say "every vote counts". Partisan tricks and voter purges are eroding our Democracy.
For my part here in the Buckeye State, I logged over 500 hours collecting signatures across four counties for a ballot amendment to stop gerrymandering. Voters of all persuasions gladly signed this petition when asked. The amendment overwhelmingly passed. But to this day, the current party in power (Republicans), continue to find endless excuses to NOT bring back fair and competitive elections to Ohio, including trying to block a recent court order to redraw lines prior to the 2020 election. When exactly did the supposed party of the American flag, apple pie and our military become ANTI-DEMOCRACY?
6
Stacey Abrams is a true dedicated soldier and hero for democracy, which is on life support throughout the world and particularly here in American, most alarmingly right here in Florida and, of course, in Alabama as well as Georgia. Ms. Abrams can expect little help from the entrenched powers that be, that is the Republican Party, who command a lockdown suffocating chokehold on our democracy. They own our electoral process through five unbreakable commands: 1. the most successful propaganda machine in human history—think FOX; 2. an inexhaustible billionaire-plutocrat-oligarch-driven dark money machine; 3. gerrymandering on steroids; 4. seemingly unstoppable voter suppression; and, finally, the real kicker, 5. the radical right-wing takeover of our federal court system vis-a-vis Reagan, Bush, Trump appointees. Can Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer match Stacey Abrams’ courage, principle, morality, and fight-to-the-death commitment to democracy? Stay tuned!
5
@David Hoffman
If Stacey Abrams was so committed to the broader cause, she would probably be running for a seat in the Senate instead of holding out to be a Presidential candidate.
4
Anyone who would argue against the necessity of absolutely, rigorously clean elections is maybe missing the entire point of America, democracy and freedom. It is great when your side wins, but really?
6
All you say is true--there is widespread efforts to limit voting, especially for minorities and lower-income people who tend to vote Democratic. But we can't block these attacks until we win more legislative seats so that we can roll back these pernicious legislative efforts. So Ms Abrams, why aren't you running for the Senate in 2020??
2
Thank you for fighting this fight. I would take it further. Every citizen should be required to vote. Voting is not just a right but a responsibility.
3
what do you think this is, Australia? Americans do not like to be required to do anything, especially if it might in any way involve the safety or welfare of others.the only thing it seems it's okay to demand is that women give birth whether they want to or not, like cattle. any other requirement is government overreach.
1
Going to the polls should be as easy as filling out an online ballot at a secure, federal website. Click SEND. There are too many differences between states, too many outdated rules and machines that are interfering with what should be a FAIR election. I am sure with the amount of sophisticated software, IT experts, and government databases, someone could come up with a foolproof system that allows every citizen to exercise their right to vote. Thank you to Stacey Abrams for defending and protecting our right to vote!
2
@aries All fine until you need to prove you are entitled to vote. And, by the way, what do you propose to do for the poor who have no computer, internet access or the ability to use a computer?
Your suggestion disenfranchises a lot of people.
3
What do people think Mark Harris's actions were - the innocent mistake of a good ole country boy? Why isn't Florida opening up about who recently hacked their voting system (well, it is FL), and McConnell has problems with making the day we vote a holiday so every citizen has the opportunity to participate. Really?
Denying citizens - ALL citizens - the right to vote is a well funded and strategic goal. Democracy is being used to destroy democracy. We didn't think we'd be having another revolution but we are.
4
Ms. Abrams,
Progressives desperately need individuals in both of our legislative bodies who will defend the franchise. Unless you are waiting for a Democrat to appoint you to the federal bench, please reconsider your decision not to seek a Senate seat. No matter what the House does, Mitch McConnell's Senate will continue to thwart our goals. We need your talent and inspiring leadership in that arena.
6
Voter suppression has also occurred at the federal level. Remember that Mitch McConnell would not permit a vote on President Obama's nomination for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland.
7
People who want to improve the system can't just leave it to election day. To effect change, people must *organize in groups*, not just on voting day -- but every day.
Groups, not a mass of disconnected individuals, have power.
2
After the excitement of the passage of Amendment 4 in Florida (with overwhelming support), I read just this morning of the Florida Legislature' s reimposing what sure looks like a poll tax on those newly registered former inmates. Many thanks Ms Abrams for your thoughtful and accurate essay which I also read this morning. Not at all recommending such action, but I'm not sure that if I were subject to the many efforts some have undertaken to reduce participation by people of color, I wouldn't be taking to the streets.
4
Most interesting to me among the comments are those that relate family histories in which disenfranchisement figured prominently. This includes the Texas woman’s comment about the theft of her mother’s ballot.
Taking a good look at our history, unsanitized by political bias ought to put Ms Abrams arguments in perspective. She makes her arguments against a backdrop of barbaric racism, first in the form of slavery and then in the form of Jim Crow laws and the ascendency of organizations like the Klu Klux Klan. These phenomena are simply too recent for their effects not to still linger.
For those who claim sour grapes, I would ask why any reasonable person in Ms Abrams’s position would not believe voter suppression was significant to her loss and would not see the evidence she has submitted as strong support for her position.
To the lady whose mother’s vote was (nearly?) stolen, I can only say that we ought to put more money and effort into making sure everyone, but especially vulnerable demographics like the elderly, the poor, recent citizens, and African Americans, are given the opportunity to cast their ballots without obstruction.
And to suggest any of these groups is not vulnerable is to ignore history.
5
I am always confused about these arguments. As a pilot, we have a thousand page book of regulations that have to be met. These include proper documentation (ie dates, names matching other documents includes passport, medical, certificates). If the regs aren’t met, guess what, that pilot is not legal, therefore, cannot exercise the privileges of that certification. And guess what, most pilots are white. Really white. Sure, it’s a hassle to correct paperwork (del Rio vs delrio), but that in no way prevents one from exercising their rights.
4
Best response ever! Details matter, and details do not discriminate. Ever. They cannot. Truth!
@Pilot: what's the longest time it's taken you to a/ get to a polling place and b/ vote when you got there?
1
@Pilot: I'm assuming that most of your pilot-related paperwork is administered by one or two entities whose job it is to maintain proper data related to employment eligibility.
But voter registration and DMVs across the country are not linked, don't have uniform systems, and do not communicate with each other about data. If the DMV application doesn't allow for spaces, but the voter registration application does, then you get "delRio" and "del Rio." If the law requires that the two should match, then either the DMV or the voter registration office needs to adjust their application forms to enable matching. Either that, or you get rid of the law requiring a perfect match. It's pretty easy to understand.
BTW, when I moved, I changed my address through the DMV. Two years later, a law firm in Houston threatened legal action because I hadn't paid a road toll. I was mystified, because I had paid all of my tolls and had the receipts to prove it. That's when I discovered that Texas has not one state toll road authority, but four privately run ones. And one of these had not updated its records and had been sending notices to my old address long after the period for postal forwarding had run out. When I called them, they had to admit they were at fault for not noting the proper address. They didn't bother to update their records for 2 years!
Plain old private bureaucratic inefficiency causes a lot of these headaches. You're lucky not to have been victimized -- yet.
1
Maybe Stacy Abrams should run for Georgia Secretary of State. It might seems like a career move-down for her at this point, but that's where the voter disenfranchisement seems to be happening.
I wish she would run for Senate; we have enough people running for President.
6
@MV That's a great idea - if she doesn't think the GA Secretary of State is handling things right she should put get money where her mouth is and take on that challenge herself.
Bonus - it will likely cause her to moderate her rhetoric and make a lot less noise!
Go fo it, Stacy!
1
The Robert's court made an awful blunder in their Shelby County v Holder ruling. It's as if the Paris fire department had given up on fighting the fire for Notre Dame Cathedral and not stayed to save the church's core.
Since that awful decision, in state after state restrictive bills were passed to undo the actions of this country to move toward equality.
We need more voices like Ms. Abrams to speak out and to push us toward returning to the nation's fight for equality.
5
@Michael Kelly
Do you think we should make governmental decisions based on demographic information older that forty years?
That was what got this court cased decided.
How ironic that the villains on bad voting laws that long ago were Democrats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_County_v._Holder
Ms Abrams suggests that the inefficiency of the bureaucracy only effects people of color. For instance, how many white voters were denied the right to vote because the DMV, for lack of a hyphen or space, spelled their names differently than the voter data base? That said, to one comment's point, if a photo is used by the State Department for passports and a photo is used by the DMV for driver's licenses, there is no reason not to use one for voter registration cards. The bureaucracy should get its act together and make the process easy and efficient.
5
@MCH: "Ms Abrams suggests that the inefficiency of the bureaucracy only effects people of color." She says nothing of the sort! She says that it DISPROPORTIONATELY affects people of color.
2
As much as I like Ms. Abrams, admire that she is definitely "a force to be reckoned with", unfortunately, there is so much corruption within and throughout the entire System, that her efforts will only result in her "tilting at windmills."
Our politics and political system is rotting, from the inside out, and from the top down. It cannot be saved. It must go by the way of the Dinosaurs -- it is obsolete, ineffectual, and in my feeling, "crumbling right before our very eyes".
For all of you who hold and/or retain your "hope" in what must come down, more power to you. Weary does not even properly describe the result of living in this country at the hand of the current occupant of the WH, "they" -- those who hold the authority to be a "check on power" of the Executive Branch -- seem absolutely and completely unable and/or unwilling to fight like the opposition fights, to be as ruthless as the opposition, and to stand in their power like the opposition. Where does that leave us, but with endless words, upon endless words about what is happening at the hands of 45?
Therefore, to make sure that those of us who have been historically denied, put down, and suppressed in all forms of the inherent "Democracy" that comes along with being a "citizen" of this Country have the right to vote, and to have those rights protected, in this current climate, what's the point, and to what end will that prove to be effective?
2
Thanks, Ms. Abrams! I'm with ya!
In so many ways, I, too "shall not rest until this democracy is fully realized". Voting freedom and safety, education, healthcare, re-joining our allies, air, water, climate, and, once again, a forward, rigorous education with 2nd language exposure - all beginning pre-K. Let's be part of the democratic world again.
3
Your honor your Father. I’ve got your back, and I dream of the Day I can VOTE for you. Best Wishes.
6
Bravo. History is on the side of justice, and true democracy, however slow and painful the fight.
3
Hear, hear. Ms. Abrams. But I would also add that we need to do our utmost to ensure that Trump’s Russian sponsors do not sabotage in our next presidential election.
4
I do not see anything that she says creates problems for minority voters that does not happen to ALL voters regularly. Her examples of "repression" do not seem too awfully difficult to overcome.
9
@Ayecaramba Have you ever waited in line for hours to vote? The most I've ever waited is about 5-10 minutes. My polling place is about a 5 minute walk from my house. Would I travel 75 miles and wait in line for hours to cast my ballot? probably not. Bravo to all who do.
6
@Kai I've waited over an hour here in Atlanta - you do what you need to do. Get over it. When the voters may turn out for some elections, other elections attract fewer. At my polling station I have been within the first 100 voters by noon on an election day. Planning and facilities management can be a challenge for the county-level officials responsible for setting up polling stations.
2
@Kai Kai, no I hate waiting in lines so I use a mail-in ballot. It solves lots of problems and is available to everyone.
The greatest victory that you can give to those who would seek to silence you is if you accept that you are powerless and can do nothing in response to these direct, calculated, malicious, and vicious attacks on our democracy.
You don't have to run. Give not just to congressional or presidential candidates, but save some for local candidates for their primaries and local races. District and County Supervisor, School Boards, and City Council seats are just as important, if not more. Sign up to walk blocks for a couple hours or make phone calls for an afternoon. Write a letter to the editors of your local newspaper (trust me, they hear from the squeaky wheels and the fringe voices all the time, and they'd be glad to get - and publish - something different).
The ripple effects are real. Local primaries in Virginia are on June 11, in less than a month, and I can count ten visits to my front door from volunteers and one from an actual candidate so far. All it takes to tip the scales is a few more people convincing a few more to get involved.
5
I don't think the data (at least that reported in the WSJ) is aligned with the sentiments expressed here or the reality of recent elections.
A snippet "It just so happens that two weeks ago the Census Bureau released a report on voter turnout in 2018, which climbed 11 percentage points from the last midterm election, in 2014, and surpassed 50% for the first time since 1982. Moreover, the increased turnout was largely driven by the same minority voters Democrats claim are being disenfranchised. Black turnout grew around 27%, and Hispanic turnout increased about 50%. An analysis of the census data published by the Pew Research Center found that “all major racial and ethnic groups saw historic jumps in voter turnout” last year."
Perhaps the only thing positive from the loathsome President Trump is that people are paying more attention to politics and that voting is up. That is a good thing.
The optics , though many commentators here will disagree, do fall in the sour grapes bucket.
7
The GOP cheats. That is why we need to strengthen our ability and right to vote. Thank you Ms. Abrams.
5
Voting should be MANDATORY. It is a disgrace that so few people get out to vote in primaries or elections. Being a Citizen gives you a lot of rights but there would be nothing wrong with making voting an obligation. Make Election Day (s) National Holidays. Tell your children that the greatest treasure they have is the right to vote when they reach 18. It would be very difficult to suppress the vote if 90% of voters showed up instead of 40%.
6
It is so much easier to vote today in Georgia than ever before. The way you have acted sense the election has hurt you in at best a purple state.
10
Ms. Abrams is the opposite side of the same coin — demagoguery. She describes a problem in Georgia, makes vague accusations about the source of that problem (“a vicious blend of electoral malfeasance, misfeasance and mismanagement”), and extrapolates her conspiracy theory (“officials slyly mask their assaults through criteria that appear neutral on the surface”) to apply to America.
She definitely has a problem, as does every politician, in that she needs to be relevant in order to realistically compete for an elected office. But that is her problem, not America’s.
Oh, and be certain to support Fair Fight Action. CD’s available for purchase at the end of the show.
11
When I have seen Stacy Abrams speak I noticed the wide disparity in the approach and stance she shows based on audience make-up. On a Sunday morning national political news program or following the State of the Union and when she follows a script she appears sane and reasonable.
In meetings locally her demeanor changes significantly and you might not view her quite the same way.
In local meetings she talked about expanding the right to vote to illegal immigrants and making the state of Georgia a sanctuary state.
It seems that in Georgia pulling the race card and yelling about voter suppression is de rigeur and the unfairness of election results with the greatest number of voters in history cannot be overstated.
Please be aware that for Abrams, voter suppression includes unfairly preventing illegal immigrants from registering to vote, and probably even that pesky registration requirement.
The consequences of Abrams proposed policies would be chaos at the polls and invalid results.
15
@Margo: Margo-- Superb comments: As you well know, throngs of voters in GA---from of all walks of life---unfortunately had to wait in long lines to vote. It is not ideal, but is rather an offshoot of having the PRIVILEGE to vote.
And, yet, Georgia has a splendid advanced voting system which was well in effect for that very election----and included a mailing option. Maybe Ms. Abrams could do some PSAs and educate her base about that.
2
@Margo
I have been honored to hear Ms. Abrams speak at a local event and I was incredibly impressed with her candid personal stories, her visionary ideas, and her eloquence. She is a fascinating and inspiring woman who I look forward to helping in the next phase of her journey.
3
Although I wish mightily that Abrams had won her race in Georgia, maybe her defeat is another one of those silver linings things: her voice and passion for the issue of voter suppression may become her lasting legacy even if she never gets elected to office. Her campaign to stop this insidious form of cheating that the Republicans are so committed to may in fact to do more to stop malefactors like Trump and McConnell from getting elected again. The poll tax imposed in Florida for re-registered felons is particularly egregious, after the good people of the state voted to allow these rehabilitated individuals to cast their ballots again.
9
This is an important issue. Another and more important issue is climate change. There won't be much of the U.S. left if we don't fix that problem. Most of Florida will be underwater.
3
When I read about the voter suppression efforts by the GOP in several states, I am thankful to live in Washington State where we vote by mail, and registration is simple. Our neighbor, Oregon, is even more advanced with automatic registration on your 18th birthday.
But we must never take our system for granted. Former Governor of Wisconsin recently visited the our state and advocated busting Unions as he did in Wisconsin. He would have us become the political pawns of the Koch Bros. just as he did.
Free and fair elections are the hallmark of a democracy. Attempts to stifle voting are in sharp contrast to what America stands for. What is it that the GOP fears?
9
Ms. Abrams is doing inspiring work in fighting for our basic democratic values.
I hope she runs for Senate in 2020. I believe she can win.
17
@Sparky Only if it is a fair election.
In Colorado we have mail in ballots which eliminates many of the problems for people getting to the poles. I often wonder why more states are not using this method. What you have described is an outrage as is the repeal of the "Voting Rights Act".
7
@Annette Demeyer
"What you have described is an outrage as is the repeal of the "Voting Rights Act"."
And that was the work of Justice Roberts, and so much for impartial Chief Justice. We know Alito, Thomas, Scalia, Roberts are right wing apparatchik, and Kennedy is a strange swing vote.
"“Our country has changed,” Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority. “While any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.”
Well current condition have proved to be the same as in the days before the Voting Rights Act. But we knew that and Roberts knew it too.
2
Because mail-in ballots are an open invitation to voter fraud.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
Sad here you chose not to run for the Senate to get this plan implemented. Seems vital to me.
4
How about we issue voter cards at birth as SSI is issued? They were born here so they are citizens. Instead Americans make it harder for citizens to be registered. When the party in power stays in power due to not registering more people you have a real conflict of interest.
6
Run, Stacey, Run! Thank you for your stand, your leadership and for pointing the way forward!
4
If Stacey Adams was REALLY concerned about voter suppression, she would support Voter ID. Right now we have individuals and organizations which are harvesting the votes of seniors in retirement homes and without permission. My mother had her mail in ballot stolen from the mailbox and she had to fight with the election judge (a Democrat I might add) to get her vote counted. At 90, with leukemia, it was no small thing for her to have to be in line on election day and then having to argue that she had not voted. THIS is voter suppression. Also, allowing foreign nationals who are not citizens to vote suppresses the votes of American citizens. No other nation allows foreign nationals to vote. So Ms. Abrams can get off of her high horse and put her money where her mouth is.
26
@Ellen K
What states currently allow foreign nationals who are not citizens to vote??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_of_foreigners_to_vote_in_the_United_States
1
@Ellen K
I feel bad for your mother, she experienced what people of color experience all the time.
No one allows foreign nationals to vote, that's a right wing canard used to make it harder for people of color and women to vote.
1
@Tom If Stacy Abrams were to be elected that is what she would try to do. She does not want to suppress the votes of illegal immigrants.
1
It is an unbelievable outrage for those of us in states that facilitate voting that voters elsewhere face such obstacles. The only problem my wife and I face voting is remembering which of the three polling places on the same block, a three minute walk from home, is ours. These three could be one poling place, but they are kept separate to make voting easy on voters and easy on those who staff the polling places. We have never waited more than a minute to vote. We have never had to present an ID. We come away with an "I Voted" sticker, coffee and donuts.
6
The best way to combat interference from foreign (and domestic) actors is to overwhelm them at the polls. And that's exactly what the GOP doesn't want.
The road to our current quagmire leads directly from the overturning of the Civil Rights Act which, contrary to the majority opinion of the Supreme Court, protected voters where suppression was just waiting to come back.
As the Times and many others have reported, the suppression is so brutal and widespread that even some of the people who could be counted on to vote Republican were denied access to the ballot box (the elderly, veterans and rural residents without the "proper" ID.)
The GOP can't win by acclaim, so they must do it by making it impossible for those they think would vote against them not to have access to the ballot box.
6
I am for enacting reform to ensure maximum legal voting. It makes no sense for the same state to hold different standards for name entry (space or no space) in the DMV and voter roles and then demand that they have the exact same name presentation in both systems.
However, she makes no mention of what constitutes reasonable checks on voter fraud. It leads me to think that does not concern her, and that's where she loses me.
Moreover, she inaccurately describes "use it or lose it."
That people who don't vote over a long period of time might be purged from the voter roles, makes sense in the absence of any other way to know who has died or moved. Last year the Supreme Court upheld an Ohio law that purged people who didn't vote for 6 years AND failed to respond to mail asking them to confirm their continued residency. That is reasonable to me but its unclear if Ms. Abrams ever thinks it makes sense to verify voter roles or would-be voter identities.
14
@ML The most recent studies and actual incidents have shown that voter fraud has mostly been perpetuated by Republicans. (See the NC election which was overturned.)
8
@ML You don't need much in the way of reasonable checks on voter fraud, because voter fraud is basically nonexistent; it's a trope of the right-wing voter disenfranchisement movement. And it doesn't make sense; there is no gain for an individual to vote when not eligible. While there is potentially great gain from blocking large numbers of people from voting.
As for the purges, it might seem reasonable to do it if people don't vote for six years and don't respond to mail. But people move in our society, and mail doesn't keep up. And not voting is not grounds for losing your right to vote.
5
@MV
It makes just as much sense to increase fraudulent voting in your favor as it does to decrease legitimate voting against your favor.
And if people move, as you pointed out, then they no longer have the right to vote in the municipality where they moved to.
Moreover, mail does keep up when you move. It's a simple form you fill out at a post office or online.
1
Just tell me where to send my check.
2
When a Democrat loses an eelection its always "voter suppression" when a Democrat wins its "the system works"...
34
@Pat
When a republicant loses an election its always "illegal voters means we need more suppression and to close more polls" when a republican wins its "the system works"...
4
@Pat You don't seem to be following this issue very closely, it seems. I doubt you'll see much in the way of voter suppression in California.
1
These games are wrong, also silly and ultimately futile. The most massive disenfranchisement in this country is the primary election.
3
I'm for making the system of registering & voting as simple and fair as possible. Some additional info for context my be useful.
NPR says the fact we generally put the "onus of registering to vote on individual voters, (we get) a sometimes cumbersome process that may explain a large portion of why turnout rates in the U.S. are lower than in many other countries."
We all know hardworking parents with limited time, military personnel, seniors, or people living with a disability or limited mobility have extra challenges.
Seems automatic voter registration (AVR) is a good place to start. This is a process where eligible citizens are automatically registered to vote when they get a driver's license, register a vehicle or interact with other gov agencies, unless the individual opts out.
The org Common Cause says that 17 states had adopted some form of AVR as of 2018 (Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska, New Mexico, Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, West Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Michigan, and Nevada), plus the District of Columbia) -- most blue states of course.
But interestingly Georgia is on the list and according to an NPR article in April, they increased their voter rolls by 97% solely as a result of registering people automatically.
We need additional ways to help others that don't get drivers licenses, or apply for gov services ... and of course we should keep striving to make the whole system fairer to all.
5
@dre I don't know why we don't have some type of national ID that would work for voting, social security and other national agencies. It's a ridiculous duplication of effort. Abrams ignores that voter fraud goes hand in hand with identity theft and illegal immigration. Compare the rise in identity thefts to issues with illegal immigration. My father's ID was used (and screwed up my Mom's social security) to work and get benefits in Ohio-a state where he had never lived nor worked. Abrams talks a big game, but if she really wants to get to bottom of voter suppression, I don't think she will like the outcome much.
2
Yet another election loser seeks in desperation for an excuse. Where have we seen that before?
You note: "Ms. Abrams is the founder of the voting rights group Fair Fight Action."
More to the point would be: "Ms. Abrams Sits On The Board Of the Podesta/Clinton Center for American Progress"
https://www.americanprogress.org/press/statement/2018/12/19/464502/statement-stacey-abrams-joins-center-american-progress-board-directors/
Just what we need. Another disgruntled Clintonian neo-liberal with her own "social welfare" charity. Remember, folks: 501(c)(4) means DARK MONEY.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
23
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD Being of similar philosophy to the Center for American Progress makes her suspect with regard to combating voter suppression?
They're an organization that believes in the right of every citizen to vote.
I hope you're equally concerned about other 501(c)(4) organizations, many of which may be more in line with your policy leanings.
4
@MV: I think the whole 501(c)(4) racket needs to be dissolved. Could you not tell by my final line? Or did you not read that far?
And since you have no idea what my "policy leanings" are, thanks for the public display of prejudice. It speaks volumes.
https://emcphd.wordpress.com
3
@Rev. E. M. Camarena, PhD I read that far. You didn't help your credibility with the "Podesta/Clinton Center for American Progress."
Stacey, run. (for the Senate)
9
Much as I'd love to see you trounce David Perdue (which you surely would), this work is massively important—no, critical—to the future of democracy. And I can't think of a more determined or capable person to lead the charge. Thanks for putting country over ego.
10
I want to point out that - regardless of his low support by African Americans, Buttigieg is the candidate most committed to fixing our democracy.
Stacey Abrams, and Beto would make great Senators.
Flipping seats in the Senate will be critical for Democrats in 2020.
Apparently, every Democrat in the country wants to be President, presiding over a Republican controlled Congress.
18
To every commenting reader with a negative response about tone or wording, intention or screaming protestors, look in your heart about why you responded so negatively? What are you afraid of?
29
@Pathfox
It's not fear but rather fatigue.
It's 2019, figuring out how to vote is not that difficult if its very important to you including hoe to workaround any bureaucratic obstacles. It's easier in the day of social media to get messages out and the data shows that voter turnout among multiple identity politics based parts of Democrat fabric have increased.
What's also tiring is the false narrative that Dems continually project. That they, exclusively, are "the good guys" that are being thwarted by the "evil GOP". They are duplicitous in their shameful lust for power - they lobby for eliminating the Electoral College and for packing the Supreme Court - but it is only because they can't win on their vision , ideas and candidates. They want to change the rules in their favor.
We didn't hear any of this nonsense when Obama won twice but we here it endlessly now.
8
Here’s what I’m afraid of. We are at the point where any negative outcome can be blamed on racism. And once that term is invoked, any alternative view is shut down and labeled as frightened heartless racists.
4
I wish Ms. Abrams would run for U.S. Senate She could help turn the Senate Republican Majority who try at every turn to keep most of us from the same freedoms that they enjoy. Latest proof. All of the States who have voted to control a woman's body.
Or at least run again for Governor of Georgia.
19
This is valiant work and I commend the author for doing the right thing.
But I compare what she hopes to achieve, with the goals of the subjects of the book Democracy in Chains, MacLean. They are diametrically opposed. The book studies persons, starting with the passage of Brown v Board, who discovered that shaping who votes and makes the rules (the propertied), keeps the old societal order, even as its numbers slip as a majority. Charles Koch assumed and ran with the concept to produce the practical results that Stacy Abrams is fighting today.
This is not a passive, one-sided righting of a wrong. This is a gargantuan task to counter an aggressive, deliberate campaign backed by a lot of Koch money and influence.
6
Hillary II. Can't accept she lost. Get over it. Run again but please run on issues not on lookism.
22
@Yankees Fan Inside Red Sox Nation She’s is not at all like Hillary Clinton. She has a long list explaining what happened in Georgia and other states and will continue to happen all over the country unless something is done. Failure to bring these issue should to light as much as possible is not only a disservice to candidates like her, but to the voter she and our country.
5
@Yankees Fan Inside Red Sox Nation
No. You oversimplify. It's not about winning or losing, it's about DEMOCRACY and the right to vote.
7
@Yankees Fan Inside Red Sox Nation You didn't actually read the article, did you?
1
As a Democrat, I certainly agree. However, I did think that former President Obama and AG Eric Holder were forming and acting in an organization that would attack gerrymandering and voter suppression. Now, Obama and Michelle are receiving accolades in the film industry for producing social issue related films. I'm feeling disappointed.
5
I agree with her premise but her editorial comes across as someone still stinging from losing an election and only looking to blame the voting system for her loss instead of also looking at her platform and how much of it turned off voters.
72
@DC
Perhaps so. But I think we are better off if we stop demanding Purity, particularly from women and minorities, and recognize, acknowledge, bemoan for a little bit, and then GET OVER the fact that no one is entirely un-self-motivated. And then focus on the issue.
13
@Queen Bee
I completely agree. I live in Atlanta, and am fairly moderate (I would vote for a Republican I liked). However, I was appalled at the way the Georgia election was handled and overseen. Republicans and Democrats should be motivated enough work together to solve this issue. It casts a shadow over Kemp's governorship and undermines citizens' trust in the process (although that doesn't seem to matter to him).
66
@DC Why would she blame her loss on a platform that attracted a majority of Georgia citizens who attempted to exercise their constitutional right to vote? The only reason she "lost" is because so many of those citizens had that right stolen.
37
When it comes to the GOP, their motto should be:
"When you can't win, cheat."
I lived in Florida during the 2000 election dispute and worked in a building where I could see the trucks coming in for the recount. And I was also able to hear the "Florida" protestors outside who weren't actually from Florida but were bused in.
And I also heard that in one district the police were stopping each car and searching it and this was on a route to a voting district that did not vote Republican. It dissuaded a lot of that district's residents from voting.
That should be the Republican party's motto, especially now that they have a fraud in the oval office.
Do they mean to tell me that not one Republiacn party even bothered to look at the evidence files in the Trump University class action lawsuits Trump bought his way out of to avoid a felony conviction?
Not a one was concerned enough to look at the evidence files?
Whether they did look, or did not look, they endorsed Trump and that is why EVERY effort should be made to vote these crooks out of office in 2020 and to prevent the GOP from cheating.
11
Make no mistake, there is a war going on in American Politics for the rule of law, and democracy.
As Stacy Adams points out, the other side specializes in dirty and illegitimate tactics.
Unfortunately it is the troops in the trenches that pay the greatest price in terms of hardship. The generals on the sidelines have made absolutely certain to skew the vote to favor white voters in Republican States.
Needless to say, this is a war that is vital to win. Otherwise more Donald Trump's will prevail in American Politics.
257
@Richard Gordon...
It's interesting to note that the system employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is an appropriate and effective way of keeping election roles current, and those used in Ohio and Georgia are rife with voter suppression.
The embarrassing part of your arguments painting Georgia and Ohio in poor lights is that the systems are exactly the same as that used in Massachusetts.
Somehow, I see the disconnect as fatal to your allegations.
1
@Richard Gordon
"As Stacy Adams points out, the other side specializes in dirty and illegitimate tactics."
more accurately the Republican party uses corrupt and criminal behavior as part of their tool chest to maintain leadership control of this government.
18
@The Owl You didn't provide a link to back up your comment so I can't tell water you are telling the truth about voter registration and conformation systems. However, you can have the same rules but apply them unevenly to different populations and achieve targeted voter suppression. That is clearly what Republicans are doing to thwart the will of the people.
7
Abrams claims that "officials slyly mask their assaults through criteria that appear neutral on the surface but nevertheless target race, gender, language and economic status." Fair enough. But Abrams, and liberals generally, who for decades have refused to strictly limit immigration and clamp down on illegal immigration (such illegals then have "citizen" children) are aiming to change the policies of America through criteria that seem neutral on the surface. If demographics in 2008 were identical to 1992, Romney would have won in a landslide. As a conservative, we are losing the war to preserve the American values of freedom and capitalism, and proposals by people such as Abrams only serve to hasten the process.
11
@DRS
You're basically saying that because we've applied America's historical standards for immigration--excepting the period of racist restriction between about 1923 and 1965--the population is changing, the electorate is growing, and the policies you prefer are losing.
To me, this sounds like the system working exactly in the way it's supposed to.
Granting that empathy and moral imagination does not come easily to conservatives, I urge you to consider how your conceptions of freedom and capitalism might look to people like Stacey Abrams' parents. They risked their very lives in the battle to ensure that every American could experience them.
Let me tune up the world's smallest violin to play for your loss of privilege.
9
@DRS If conservatives value freedom so much, why are many of them actively trying to deny people's freedom to vote?
People are saying she sounds like a sore loser, but Republicans are literally disenfranchising people of color because they don't want talk to them to try and win support and won't change their platform to appeal to them.
BTW, she isn't just complaining. After the election she went straight to work trying to fight the injustices that may have cost her the election. She's just focusing on the issues in the article and not bragging about work she's done.
7
@DRS "...liberals generally, who for decades have refused to strictly limit immigration and clamp down on illegal immigration..."
Republicans, even when in control of Congress and the presidency have done nothing to address this issue and have undermined bipartisan efforts for reform.
"...we are losing the war to preserve the American values of freedom and capitalism"
This falsely assumes that children of immigrants and "liberals" don't share the values of freedom and capitalism, values that draw many immigrants to our country in the first place. Stacy Abrams is defending the most American value there is: the right of each citizen to cast her/his vote.
5
Dear Stacey,
Wonderful reflection.
Please don't listen to the folks who dis Biden. Instead. tell Joe, that if he promises to serve for only one term and not run for reelection, you'll run on the ticket as "president in waiting," I mean as Vice President.
Hey Democratic establishment-you want white working class votes-Stacey has mine. Joe, too.
3
I’m beginning to think that Jimmy Carter and his team at the Carter Center need to be observing elections in the USA.
437
@Lisa Elliott,
This is a great suggestion. We might also want to invite in the United Nations to place poll watchers all across the country to assure voters of both access and fairness.
29
@Lisa Elliott There currently are people outside the polls here in Atlanta who ask about issues I may have had when voting. This issue is overblown and based on outdated party politics.
5
@Lisa Elliott
Right on!
America needs UN observers monitoring our election against hacking and meddling by hostile domestic and foreign powers, interests and values. Including corrupt crony capitalist corporate plutocrat oligarch.
India is the most populous ethnic sectarian color aka race parliamentary democracy on Earth.
Hear ' Georgia on My Mind' Ray Charles; 'Rainy Night in Georgia' Brook Benton; 'Midnight Train to Georgia' Gladys Knight and the Pips
2
If Stacey Abrams runs for a President and then refuses to concede it will prove her point and will greatly help recruitment for her righteous and much needed fight.
3
Yes, that is exactly what we need. More self-righteous, polarizing, solutionless partisanship. What we really need is either to ban political parties or institute a parlimentary system with proportional representation. This two-party, unlimited money system just ensures our representation (D or R) is all cut from the same corrupt cloth.
1
Ms. Abrams’ superior intellect, firm grasp of how slippery democracy can be in certain zip codes, and her unquestionable ethics are the best examples of why some people want to keep other people suppressed. Ms. Abrams and many for whom she speaks know more and act better than the bloated and unprincipled now “governing” our nation.
9
Ensuring that you are who you say you are is not blocking anyone by frauds and cheats.
ANYONE can get an ID these days.
11
@Larry the point is to suppress votes. If everybody can get an ID, they’ll find another way.
3
@Laura
Actually Laura, the point is not to suppress votes, merely to make sure that the ones voting are entitled to vote. Pretty much everyone has the five bucks necessary to get a state issued I.D., if you choose to use it on something else, that's a personal choice, not voter suppression.
4
Demanding that people show ID to vote is protecting our votes. Most Americans agree.
21
@Will Raper
We show our credentials when we vote in our rural area where we have lived for over 40 years. What's wrong with proving you are whose voting today?
ID's are part of life in our society.
8
@Will Raper
Is it in comprehensible to you that some people may not have the money needed to procure a valid ID? Are you so enmeshed in white privilege that you cannot imagine a worker who works shifts and uses public transportation not needing a drivers license or not being able to miss work to obtain one? If ID is required to vote then make getting it easy and free, otherwise you are targeting low income people, more than likely black or latino, for exclusion to voting.
8
@georgiadem
There you go, "white privilege". How do you know Will is white, is that some "dog whistle" you trot out anytime someone disagrees with your perspective? There are in excess of 250 working days in a year, is it your contention that this hypothetical "worker who works shifts" never takes a day off?
Most states offer an I.D. at low ($5) or no cost. If a person feels voting is important to them, they'll make that minimal sacrifice to obtain the I.D., if not, they'll spend it on something else.
No one is being targeted, but just fyi, in sheer numbers, there are more low income white people that people of color, that's just the fact of how demographics play out.
3
Despite your rancour Stacey Abrams will prevail. "The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
8
Stacey-you lost because more people voted for the other guy. Prove that people were denied access to the polls, or go have lunch with Hillary.
21
Stealing voter machines, intimidation- yes, these things are horrible, and we should do everything in our power to ensure that every vote is counted. And, hyphenated name mix ups shouldn’t happen, although Del Río could have been a White Latino.
But I’m a bit confused on why requiring every voter to put in the minimal effort necessary to obtain a photo ID is so difficult. And, unless the DMV or passport office is actively not giving IDs to Black people, why on Earth is this discrimination against voters of color?
16
@Cass
Because that fits her narrative, not because it is supported by any data.
4
@Cass
Because the requirements to get photo ID may be difficult and expensive.
My birth certificate was provided by the hospital where I was born, in NY. NJ however required a certified birth certificate....several phone calls, $50, several weeks wait. Then off to get the ID (another $35) with only 2 hours open in the evening. Also a 15 mile car trip, no public transportation, from my town.
As many other commentators have noted, if this ID is required then places where it is obtainable should be all over a state and easily accessible. Their cost should also be minimal.
2
As a Georgian I share your outrage and concern. As a resident of Gwinnett county I witnessed first hand voter suppression in limiting early voting days and places, egregiously long lines in the one early polling place, throwing out of provisional ballots, confusion by voters (myself included) as to where and when I can early vote (and I have voted at every election in this county since 1998). Throw in voter ID laws meant to limit people of color and gerrymandering and we have a real danger to democracy. Please keep up your efforts in Georgia Stacy.
One thing I have found maddening is young people of color who think by sitting out elections they are somehow protesting candidates they may not love. If you do not see the difference between Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump by now then we have no hope. There are now 2 more SCOTUS judges who feel they can control your uterus and keep you from voting. If you chose to not vote because of principles then you are wasting the work and literal lives lost in getting you the right to show up on election day and be heard. Stacy's parents risked their very lives to register black voters in Mississippi the least you can do is participate.
43
Thank you, Ms Abrams. Voting rights are under attack across the country, where all Democrats, not just people of color, are being systematically disenfranchised. The Republicans doing it are so blatant now, they are writing emails to each other with suggestions and celebrations of their success in annuling Democrats. Fortunately, these emails are revealed in court for everyone to see, and the courts are overturning their gerrymandering as blatantly unconstitutional, but the fight is just going to get worse as they work harder to win the only way that is left for them to win. They are a minority party who has figured out how to silence the majority in order to remain in power. It is frightening and sickening.
I know there will be comments stating that you're only doing this because you didn't win, but anyone saying that clearly has to be ignoring not just history, but what is happening all around us right now, in the open. They are so shameless they no longer bother to hide what they're doing. So ignore those who claim sour grapes in your name, and keep working to save our democracy.
9
According to an ancient Native American leader, Mosiah, chronicled in The Book of Mormon, “Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right;...” Voter suppression frustrates this principle by eliminating part of that vital voice. Stacey, you have our full encouragement and support! Thank you for your efforts.
7
The notion that just because she is personally upset about losing the election, Abrams' concerns about voter suppression are illegitimate is nonsense. Giving a researcher's motivation for undertaking [x] inquiry the same weight as her data and methodology in examining her study's conclusion is like saying the earth does not revolve around the sun because every human observer experiences pleasure watching the sun set. This country still labors under structural and individual-level racism a century-and-a-half after the Civil War. Period. But that is not the end of the story; for black people, it's the beginning.
24
The bitter irony in all this is that under the guise of concern for "voter fraud", the entire system is actually subject to "voter suppression fraud." The real crime here is the violation of the right to vote.
Instead of spending time and energy trying to overcome the hurdles put in front of prospective voters, we should be engaged in building a system that REQUIRES every eligible citizen to vote, with penalties for failing to do so. Perversely, we find ourselves fighting to eliminate penalties that prevent or constrain people from voting. The panic and fear of losing their minority-power position that drives the Republican Party is at the root of this perversion. It is unconscionable that, in the 21st century, with all our technical capability, we have a foreign power 10,000 miles away able to more easily access and influence our electoral system than our own citizens.
Ms Abrams' fight is the right fight for these times. The sad part is that the fight has to be had at all.
24
The problem with this op-ed is that it conflates two things, one of which we can all agree on and the other which undermines the first:
1) Voting should be fair and free for all eligible adults and the requirements must be uniform and uniformly enforced.
We can all agree to that. But, then the author continues...
2) We must use the ballot box to effect change and achieve social justice!
That second one, which is a completely separate issue from the first, is a deal-breaker for a lot of people who don't agree with the author's political point of view.
We need to stop conflating things that aren't actually related to one another and work toward things that we can all agree on, like free and fair elections.
Let's face it: If our elections are free and fair, then whatever changes people want to implement will follow as a result, IF it is truly what the electorate wants.
Donald Trump was elected because the people wanted change for the sake of change. There's a lesson in that for all of us!
11
@Elfego
and if not the ballot box then...?!
2
Stacy Abrams will be President of the United States someday. And I hope to live long enough to see her there in the Oval Office.
She's a great American.
21
@cherrylog754
On the basis of a failed run for Governor of Georgia, you extrapolate that she'll be President of the United States. You should go make a bet in Vegas, you could probably get great odds on that one. Maybe make the bet for the next five Presidential elections, just to hedge the bet a bit.
1
The author mentions wsj argument that increased minority turnout disproves suppression. I agree with her it doesn’t, because turnout may have been greater minus suppression. But she should have made that case evidentially in this long piece.
2
@Rhporter Voter turnout does not mean votes counted. Long lines do not equal being permitted to vote.
4
As President Obama warned, voter suppression is today’s incarnation of Jim Crow.
And while it is easy to think that the past is just that, it would be a false hope. Too many are determined to bring us back to our nation’s dark chapters, so we must not become complacent.
30
It is amazing how the oldest democracy in the world values the sacred act of voting so little. Using Pen and Paper, voting on Sundays and having mandatory voter registration would help a lot to settle topics like these once and for all.
44
The gutting of the Voting Rights Act tells us all we need to know about the Roberts court. The overturning of established precedent was immediately revealed as the political sham it is. As with the anti-Democracy ruling on Citizens United, the GOP "justices" show us again and again their desire for donor class white males to rule. We must vote in record numbers in 2020 to save the nation and the planet from the GOP.
24
@MHW. Yes, Citizens United was a travesty. The federal government should have the power to ban a documentary on political candidates. Which is what the case was about.........
Snark
2
I agree and those are very commendable and righteous things to be standing up for. However, please do not run for president! The only people she would be hurting are the candidates of color and Bernie and Elizabeth Warren. She does not have a legitimate shot at taking enough support away from those factions to win the election; only a very legitimate shot to take enough votes away from each of those factions to guarantee that Biden or some other white-male centrist wins the election.
Stacey Abrams has a very bright political future but trying to win this race at this point would ruin her reputation amongst progressives. Each of those factions would blame her for their candidates demise. Her vision owes itself more than being remembered as the Jill Stein of the Democratic Party. Entering at this point, would suggest that she was willing to go on a vanity project at the expense of all the candidates who are aligned with her values.
This particular contest is not her race to win. Maybe the next one will be. However, if she enters this one, there will likely be no next one. She and her supporters deserve more than that. I hope she makes the right choice.
1
@nickgregor Stacey Abrams has already stated that she is not running for President, declined invitations to be VP, and won't run for Senate. She hasn't stated her plans but I think she is going to try GA Governor again.
4
Stacey - just donated to Fair Fight. People who thinks that tilting the playing field is just politics have little appreciation for the gift of a participatory democracy. Alan. YLS '87
7
That's why Bernie Sanders idea of universal suffrage is so good. It cut's through any attempts of voter suppression. Sure it has some downsides like few deplorable awful people being able to vote but that is just few votes and a small price to pay for millions that will regain their voting rights stolen by Republican shenanigans.
20
@Robert
Allowing prisoners serving time for rape and murder to vote isn’t an issue most Americans can get behind. I’ll give it to Bernie- he says whatever comes to mind without checking the polls. But, even if he happens to squeeze out a win in the primaries, the Republicans will spend every second of every day until the General reminding voters that this policy is what they’ll be getting. And, none of the moderate Democrats I know would vote for him based on that one policy alone.
3
Ms. Abrams, I'm afraid you're up against a pretty tough barrier: a fictional crisis of voter fraud. When a significant portion of the voting public has been convinced that progressives engage in every conceivable attempt to pack the precincts with fraudulent votes to win elections, then all manner of steps to end this nonexistent fraud become justified.
When we place this in the context of our current "MAGA" culture, it is not difficult to understand this phenomenon. Basically, conservatives do not feel an overpowering need to make certain minority votes are counted, since at their core they do not feel such votes are legitimate. And so it becomes very simple indeed to constantly invent new ways of "filtering out" these votes, so that the "real" will of the people can be heard.
9
It seems to me that if you can pay taxes, join the military or serve on a jury you should be able to vote. In much of America that is not a given.
One of the early cries of the period leading to our Revolution was "taxation without representation is tyranny". If you do not get to vote you are not being represented.
Let's make this deal with the Republicans who are the perps in all of this:
If you can be denied the right to vote you do not have to pay taxes- period. No sales tax, excise tax, inheritance tax, cap gains tax, income tax, fuel tax, etc.
Either let people vote or stop pretending we live in a representative democracy.
66
Our disgraceful record of voter suppression in many parts of this country is an example of our failure to foster the creation of a reasonably homogeneous culture based on democratic values. The United States has done an admirable job of making good citizens with a sense of fairness out of people arriving here from places where democracy has never existed. It is sad that we have been unable to do the same with many members of our union in the more than 150 years since the Civil War ended.
17
After hundreds of years of structural white privilege, far to few of us white Americans can rouse ourselves to work on the behalf of those hurt by that privilege. Indeed, there are far too many who cannot see the privilege they have grown up with.
If we truly wish to work together towards our founding ideals, we white people need to, as former Michigan gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed spoke "burn their privilege at the altar of other peoples' progress".
Does that mean white people don't have problems? Of course not. It just means that the color of their skin isn't a whole other layer of worry and fear that they must carry.
While I respect all that happened 50-60 years ago to bring voting rights onto a more equal footing, we have perhaps even more work to do now to complete that process now that the racism is less open. The fact that it's easier in every way for me to vote compared to any POC is simply un-American.
63
@Jeff S.
If we’re still operating under structural White privilege, Asian Americans and Nigerian Americans- who roundly outperform native born Whites in both income and college admissions- seem pretty happy about it.
15
@Jeff S.
"it's easier in every way for me to vote compared to any POC"
And how on Earth have you reached this conclusion? This should be entertaining.
14
@Jeff S. You lost me at "privilege". That's a simplistic pop-culture catchword that increasingly means nothing.
1
If higher turnout isn't evidence of the failure of suppression efforts, what is it? Evidence of its success?
It is not dispositive of the issue, to be sure, but neither is "exact match" conclusive proof of suppression!
So, Ms. Abrams, your claim that the argument made from turnout is specious is, well, specious.
17
@Christopher - The data is conclusive when the result, the bottom line, shows strong statistical evidence of suppression. Further it is when there is no reasonable reason for the rule.
20
Higher turnout means that Ms. Abrams effort is making progress. The fundamental truth is that we have not settled, as yet, the Civil War. Notice which states and where they are located that are involved in voter suppression. Frankly, if it were possible to overturn the Dred Scott decision, forces would arise in supporting the movement.
6
@Christopher
You need to look at the numbers. If you do, you will see that the percent of voters who suffered from poll location problems, purging, exact match, failure to receive absentee ballots, rejection of absentee ballots etc were disproportionately POC.
If you really want to know the truth, take a look at those underlying numbers. The voter turnout was high among all Georgians, but those "new" white voters had far fewer problems having their vote count.
Then you will see that your argument is the specious one.
10
With her "join the Democratic crowd" candidacy for president, Stacey Abrams is actually harming the issue of voter participation and enfranchisement. She could be an outstanding candidate for the United States Senate, instead, like a still-growing herd of Democrats, she has chosen to advance vanity.
For decades, the Republicans have down a better job of doing what Democrats _claim_ they do — advance their causes on the ground, locally. Republicans have managed to gerrymander more districts, win more state legislators, governorships, and judgeships by doing precisely what Stacey Abrams and others are now declining to do.
Abrams admits as much. She notes the importance of local and state officials. Likewise, as we learned in the final two years of the Obama administration, more might be accomplished (might be) by winning both the Senate and the House. But Stacey Abrams, Bill de Blasio, and others would rather serve their own egos.
10
@Hugh Sansom
Lets stop voter suppression first. Then we can really see who has "won" the political cause battle.
And, where in the world do you get the idea that not running for Senate demonstrates more ego than running for Senate? Clearly, the opposite is true. By working on an underlying problem of democracy, she is taking a less visible road.
5
Nonsense.
2
@Hugh Sansom Stacey Abrams has already stated that she is not running for President, or the Senate, and has declined invitations to be VP on someone else's ticket. Where do you get the idea that she has announced candidacy for President?
3
This is the most important fight for our democracy right now. Voter suppression exists, and this is not a legitimate democracy until we stop it.
247
@DM
You're right. Voter suppression is a very, very important issue. But it's not THE most important issue with regards to our democracy. Voter suppression only works when the vote margins are small. George W. Bush and Donald Trump both lost the democratic vote. The former lost by half a million votes and the latter by 3 million votes. You're not going to suppress that many votes. Yet one sat, and one is sitting in the Power Oval.
First and foremost, let's get rid of the Electoral College. Then let's get rid of voter suppression. (Actually, there's no reason we can't get rid of them at the same time.)
12
@Thucydides: lucky for you, pedants are not (yet) subject to disenfranchisement efforts.
And kudos to Ms. Abrams for leading this fight - I am more impressed every time I read or listen to her speak. I hope she can take it national - now's the time.
12
@Thucydides,
Agree voter suppression is only one among many challenges to our democracy. To me, the biggest is the dark money in politics ala Citizens United. Partisan gerrymandering is terrible too. We need to fight on all these fronts.
2
The US has everything backwards. It should not be the burden of the voter to prove they have a right to cast a ballot. Instead, it should be the burden of the state to prove that a voter does not have the right. A citizen should be able to vote in any election, whether or not they "registered" to vote. This probably needs to be a constitutional amendment, but the US cannot be considered a democracy until it makes this reform.
144
@John, Hint: It's a Republic.
4
@John - But liberals froth at the mouth at the thought of voter IDs. How do you expect "A citizen should be able to vote in any election, whether or not they "registered" to vote" should go? A person shows up at his polling place with no ID and says "I'm a citizen, let me vote now!"?
4
@John It should be illegal to strip someone off the voting rolls unless you have proof that they moved or have died. That burden should fall on the states.
5
I wish for once she would stop acting like the election was stolen from her and admit that she made a huge mistake when she announced in her commercials she would raise welfare and raise medicaid benefits as the first order of business. She could not without the Georgia Assembly approval that she did not have anyway, and she eventually scared away many Democrats, like my wife and mother-in-law.
52
@Ryan - And your evidence for this claim is ??????
11
@Ryan You don't see a problem with the person in charge of the election running in that election?? And we all know that Georgia politics are still controlled by white good ole boys!
4