General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsToday is the Day Georgians can Undo Brian Kemp's Voter Suppression Efforts
I'm sure every Georgia on this board is voting in the runoff election, but just in case you forgot -- Go Vote!
You vote are your usual election day polling place (not early voting places). Today. Now.
Barrow, 63, calls himself the most gerrymandered member of Congress in history. His personal experience dealing with attempts to manipulate state voting laws led him to run this year for Georgia secretary of state, in a bid to become the states top election official. He trailed on Election Day by just 19,000 votes to Republican state Rep. Brad Raffensperger, but because neither candidate won an outright majority, a runoff election on Tuesday will decide the raceand the fate of Georgias suppressive voting practices.
For many years, most folks havent put much thought into the office of Secretary of State, Barrow wrote in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution after the elections first round. But on November 6th, all of us received a civics lesson on the importance of this office.
He was referring to the controversial actions of Georgias previous secretary of state, Brian Kemp, who instituted a series of policies that made it harder to vote while overseeing his own election for governor against Democrat Stacey Abrams, which he won by a slim margin. (Two days after the election, amid charges of conflicts of interest, Kemp declared victoryalthough the race had yet to be calledand stepped down as secretary of state.) That included purging more than 2.2 million people from the voting rolls from 2012 to 2018, putting 53,000 voter registration applications on hold, and advising counties on how to close 214 polling places since the 2012 presidential election. These efforts disproportionately hurt voters of color, and Abrams said that allowed Kemp to tilt the playing field in his favor.
Barrow, 63, calls himself the most gerrymandered member of Congress in history. He has vowed to reverse Kemps voting restrictions. Barrow has vowed to reverse Kemps voting restrictions. He called Kemps voter purging plainly illegal and wrote in the AJC, Any thing we do that makes it harder than necessary for honest citizens to register, stay registered, or vote undermines their right to vote. He wants to get rid of Georgias electronic voting machines, which are vulnerable to election hacking, and replace them with paper ballots. His other immediate priority is to implement automatic voter registration to make it easier for voters to register and stay on the rolls.
CottonBear
(21,611 posts)I knew John Barrow when he was a county commissioner. He will make a fine SoS.
Ironically, both Barrow and Kemp are from Athens, GA.
Some info on our Democratic Public Service Commissioner candidate: (The PSC regulates utilities like Georgia Power and its way over budget nuclear plants and sky high electricity rates.)
https://atlantajewishtimes.timesofisrael.com/vote-tuesday-critical-races-still-undecided/
Lindy was born and raised in Sandy Springs and attended the Atlanta Jewish Academy (then, the Greenfield Hebrew Academy) for all eight years of elementary school. She was active at Congregation Bnai Torah, including serving as the youngest member of the choir, and she was a leader in BBYO. Lindy has bachelors degrees in economics and in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, where she received the Jewish Renaissance Fellowship (recognizing commitment to Jewish life).
Lindy was a visiting student at the University of Oxford and holds a masters in public administration from Harvard Kennedy School. She spent 13 years at Deloitte, the professional services firm, leading public policy globally in her last three years. She has lived abroad several times during her career, and co-founded Cherry Street Energy, a renewable energy company, while continuing to work full time. If elected, Lindy will leave her company, sell her shares, and focus entirely on her work at the Commission