Showing posts with label voter suppression in Georgia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label voter suppression in Georgia. Show all posts

Saturday, October 27, 2018

Thousands of absentee ballot applications “missing” in largely black Georgia county

Democratic officials in Georgia say that thousands of absentee voter requests have gone “missing” in one of the state's most heavily Democratic counties.

The Georgia Democratic Party reports that more than 4,700 vote-by-mail applications went missing in DeKalb County, a Atlanta-area county where more than 54 percent of residents are black.

The New York Times reports that county officials confirmed the missing applications in a phone call with Democratic officials and vowed to notify affected voters of the error. But a spokesman for the county elections board would not confirm the call and Sam Tillman, the chairman of the board, insisted that the county had received just 50 requests of the 4,700 names the party said it submitted.

“After reviewing the list of names, there is only evidence that the county received 50 of those voter absentee ballot request forms,” he said. “All 50 of those forms have been processed. At this time, there is no evidence that there are any missing or lost absentee ballot request forms. The Elections Department receives request forms daily and processes them within three days of receipt. At this time there are approximately 250 forms pending processing.”

Georgia Democratic Party spokesman Seth Brigman rejected the denial and said the episode is another example of voter suppression, a charge that has been leveled repeatedly in the state against Secretary of State Brian Kemp and other officials. Kemp is running in a tight gubernatorial race against former state legislator Stacey Abrams, who would become the nation's first black female governor if elected.

“Our message to voters is this: If you requested a vote-by-mail ballot from your county and your county did not send you a ballot, go in-person if you are able to an early voting site,” Brigman told the Times. “We will not allow Brian Kemp’s voter suppression or mistakes by election officials to take away your right to vote.”

Read more: Thousands of absentee ballot applications “missing” in largely black Georgia county

Saturday, October 13, 2018

NAACP MONITORING POSSIBLE VOTER SUPPRESSION TACTICS IN GEORGIA GOVERNOR RACE



Over 53,000 Voter Registration Applications on Hold in Secretary of State Kemp’s Office
BALTIMORE—The nation’s foremost civil rights organization is closely monitoring possible voter suppression in the state of Georgia stemming from Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s ongoing failure to process over 53,000 voter registration applications.
“It’s a stain on our system of democracy when less than a month before an election which could produce the first African-American female governor in our nation’s history, we are seeing this type of voter suppression scheme attempted by a state official whose candidacy for the governorship produces an irremediable conflict of interest,” said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson.
“We are closely monitoring this situation with our Georgia State Conference President Phyllis Blake and demanding a complete investigation and full transparency prior to the election,” added Johnson.
The NAACP is asking for all voters to verify their status by visiting https://www.naacp.org/vote/
According to a report from the Associated Press Sec. Kemp, who is also a candidate for governor has “cancelled over 1.4 million voter registrations since 2012. Nearly 670,000 registrations were cancelled in 2017 alone.”
In August the NAACP Georgia State Conference successfully fought against the closing of 7 of 9 polls in the nearly all Black area of Randolph County.
The NAACP Georgia State Conference earlier that month called for Sec. Kemp to step down from office due to possible unethical and conflict of interest issues. The group pointed to a report from the FOX 5 I-Team—Kemp, a Trump-endorsed candidate utilized taxpayer paid for app to promote his gubernatorial campaign.
Media can reach the NAACP National Office at mrussell@naacpnet.org
Contact the NAACP Georgia State Conference /404-577-8977 / NAACPGA.org


Saturday, August 18, 2018

Georgia county to close 7 of 9 voting precincts in predominantly African American County

A Georgia County is attempting to force the closure of 7 of its nine voting precincts before November's general election. That county is also 60 percent Black which has raised the questions, is the push for those closures racially or politically motivated or because African American & Democrat Stacey Abrams is on the ballot for governor and African Americans vote overwhelmingly for Democrats?