Voter Suppression in Georgia

Since becoming Secretary of State of Georgia, Republican Brian Kemp has been accused of making it difficult to vote in the State. He has even been labeled the "master of voter suppression." 

While running for governor, things haven't changed much for Georgia's secretary of state; his efforts to block or circumvent the right to vote, especially for minorities, continue full speed ahead.

Kemp's most potent weapon used to purge voting rolls appears to be the "exact match" rule. After it was banned by the courts, the Republican majority found a unique way to push it through the General Assembly with startling results.

Under "exact match," addresses and other identifying information on a voter registration form must be identical to that on a driver's license or other government-issued documents, including something as simple as a hyphen or junior in one's name. As a result, at least 53,000 voter registration forms have been targeted or on hold in Georgia, 90 percent of which belong to minorities. Stacy Abrams, an African American and the Democratic candidate for governor, and civil liberties groups have filed a lawsuit, claiming it amounts to a modern-day poll tax and unfairly targets the poor and elderly.

Kemp has also targeted voter registration groups around the state in a supposed attempt to combat illegal voting. Get-out-the-vote rallies led by Abrams and others have netted over half a million new Asian, black, and Hispanic voters, with Kemp questioning or investigating their methods and goals. The Secretary of State's office has not discovered a hint of wrongdoing by Abrams' group or other voting rights organizations, which amounts to a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars.

Kemp's attempt to suppress the vote seems, in general, to be based on fear, according to a secret recording obtained by the New York Times when he said, "Democrats are working hard registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are on the sidelines.

"If they can do that, they can win these elections in November," thus stopping the Republican agenda.

In his much-criticized role as secretary of state, he has fostered an environment of voter intimidation across Georgia. For instance, four hundred absentee ballots have been rejected in Gwinnett County, one of Georgia's largest and most diverse counties, over simple errors or insufficient information regarding signatures and addresses since the start of the election, according to the Atlanta Constitution.  Civil liberties groups have filed suit demanding that they be counted by election day. Other suspected cases of voter suppression during Kemp's tenure have included attempts to close polling places in rural, predominately black counties and assaults on early voting. 

Although a Georgia judge recently ruled against the "exact match" law,  the secretary of state has appealed to a higher court with just days to go before the election. The saga continues in Georgia for their simple quest to vote. 

Sources:  The Washington Post and the Atlanta Constitution.