Phonebanking for Georgia's Democratic candidates, the older lady with a soft voice tells me why she can't volunteer for our GOTV efforts, but let's me know she's a Democrat. She goes on to say she's voted in every election, as her uncle was killed on courthouse steps for getting out the vote.
August 13, 1955 · Brookhaven, Mississippi
Lamar Smith was shot dead on the courthouse lawn by a white man in broad daylight while dozens of people watched. The killer was never indicted because no one would admit they saw a white man shoot a black man. Smith had organized blacks to vote in a recent election.
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In-person early voting started this week in Georgia. We have three weeks to get involved, to move our state forward.
Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp is being sued by the Lawyers' Collective on behalf of the NAACP and the New Georgia Project, for apparently sitting on over 40,000 voter registration forms of mostly African Americans and Latinos. In 2014, some 60 years after he died for our democracy, we still can't get it right.
Of those missing voter registrations, Rep Stacey Abrams of the New Georgia Project says, "at least 44% were between the ages of 18 and 25. Another 20% were between the ages of 25 and 35" (from the below interview on Maddow).
This should infuriate the whole country. And it should inspire us to action--to GOTV in your state or mine.Our democracy is only what we make of it, and step 1 is voting in free and fair elections.
If you're concerned about the status of your voter registration application, call the non-partisan Election Protection coalition’s 1-866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683), which "is working with the NGP to help those who have registered to vote in Georgia but have not received confirmation voter registration cards" (according to the press release for the lawsuit).
The current Sec. of State Brian Kemp actually showed his naked partisanship a few months ago, saying:
Democrats are working hard...registering all these minority voters that are out there and others that are sitting on the sidelines, if they can do that, they can win these elections in November.Yes we can win, in Georgia, this year.
Michelle Obama recently said:
“If just 50 Democratic voters per precinct who didn’t vote in 2010 get out and vote this November—just 50 per precinct—then Michelle Nunn and Jason Carter will win.”That's 137,000 votes statewide.
The New Georgia Project, NAACP and allies helped register over 120,000 people this year. And a total of more than 200,000 new voter registrations have been completed since March, not counting the 40,000 outstanding applications. Also, there are an estimated 600,000 Democratic voters from 2012 that didn't vote in 2010, and these are the people that we need to talk with. Some people need rides, some need encouragement, and others just need some information.
To check your polling place and early voting locations visit http://www.mvp.sos.ga.gov/
There's also a free app to download to your phone called "GA Votes". It gives info on polling places and early vote locations.