Georgia’s Botched Election Draws Condemnations, Claims Of Voter Suppression

TOPLINE

Georgia’s primary election Tuesday was marred by long lines at polling places and broken voting machines, drawing deflection from the Georgia Secretary of State’s office and widespread condemnation from both in and out of state.

KEY FACTS

Key Background

Georgia’s recent history with voter disenfranchisement has been a messy one. The 2018 gubernatorial election was fraught with allegations of foul play directed at now-Governor Brian Kemp, who was the sitting Secretary of State at the time. Many pointed to purges of hundreds of thousands of voters from the voter rolls and the closures of polling places in black precincts as evidence that Kemp was trying to tilt the election in his favor.

Key Quote

“I stayed in line despite a three-hour-and-10-minute wait because my ancestors sacrificed too much for me to be stopped from exercising my right to vote,” Raney Branch told the Washington Post. “The volunteers told us they were not allowed to test the ballot machines before 7 a.m. How are people supposed to know the machines work if they can’t test them first? Makes no sense.”

News Peg

The calamitous election comes as one of the most visible examples of the difficulties some states are having in adapting their elections to the new normal created by the coronavirus pandemic. Some states already had robust mail-in voting systems in place, while others were well-prepared to shift to more mail-heavy systems. But states like Georgia have struggled to meet the sudden demand for mail-in or absentee ballots, and many voting rights advocates are concerned it could lead to wide voter disenfranchisement come November.