Formuch of this year, Our Weekly hasbeen reporting on Stacey Abrams, a
Georgia woman whose campaign to becomegovernor of the state is drawing
national attention. Abrams, a Black woman, hasreceived the support of
a variety of high profile politicians, including formerPresident
Barack Obama, former VP Joe Biden, Rep. Kamala Harris
(D-California)and Rep. Corey Booker (D-New Jersey) among others. If
elected, she will becomethe first female governor of the southern
state, as well as its first Blackgovernor. Georgia has been electing
Republican governors for decades despite aheavily Black Democratic
base. Now U.S.News & World Report and other news organizations are
reporting that aneffort is underway to close most polling places in a
predominantly Black countyahead of this November’s elections.
Democrats and voting rights activists arecalling the move “blatant
voter suppression.” The two-member local elections board is expected
tovote on Friday (Aug. 24) on a proposal to shutter seven of nine
polling sitesin rural Randolph County, located in southwest Georgia,
where roughly 60percent of the 7,800 residents are Black. The board
members have said thevoting sites violate federal disabilities law
because they are not wheelchairaccessible. Both Stacey Abrams, the
Democratic nominee who is seeking to becomethe first female
African-American governor in U.S. history, and Republicancandidate
Brian Kemp, who is white and serves as Georgia’s secretary of
state,urged county officials to drop the plan. “Although state law
gives localitiesbroad authority in setting precinct boundaries and
polling locations, westrongly urged local officials to abandon this
effort and focus on preparingfor a secure, accessible, and fair
election for voters this November,” Kempsaid in a statement. Todd
Black, the county’s elections director, did notrespond on Monday to
calls or an email from U.S.News seeking comment. Black is white and
the other board member isAfrican-American, according to Sean Young,
legal director for the AmericanCivil Liberties Union (ACLU) of
Georgia, who attended the board’s meeting onThursday (Aug. 16) when
the closure proposal was discussed. Voting rights couldbecome a
flashpoint in the governor’s race, as Abrams seeks to turn out
moreAfrican-American voters in the state’s rural areas, particularly
in a series ofcounties known as the “Black Belt” mostly south of
Atlanta. In the past, shehas criticized Kemp as an architect of voter
suppression tactics, an accusationhe has denied. “Every Georgian in
every county deserves to have their voicerepresented at the voting
booth and in our government,” said Abrams, a formerDemocratic House
minority leader in Georgia’s legislature and founder of theNew Georgia
Project, a voting rights group. Kemp has accused that group ofvoter
fraud, which it denied. The Washington-based Lawyers’ Committee for
CivilRights Under Law on Sunday sent a letter to the Randolph County
elections boardthreatening to sue if the closures go ahead. “We are
deeply troubled by thisproposal which would impair the ability of
African-Americans, particularly inlow-income areas, to reach the
polls,” Kristen Clarke, president and executivedirector of the
Lawyers’ Committee, said. Clarke said some of the proposedclosures are
in areas with little or no public transportation, leaving votersmiles
from voting sites with no realistic way of reaching them.