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Marc Elias: What Georgia Teaches Us About Voter Suppression
https://www.democracydocket.com/opinion/what-georgia-teaches-us-about-voter-suppression/Georgia election officials, supported by the Republican Party, tried to prevent 70,050 citizens from voting this past Saturday in the hotly contested runoff election for U.S. Senate between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and his Republican challenger Herschel Walker. While Republicans didn’t get away with it, the fact that they tried should be a national outrage.
When former President Donald Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find” 11,780 votes after the 2020 election, we understood it to be an attempt to subvert the election results. Months later, when the state enacted a new election law that made registering to vote and voting more difficult, it was widely labeled as voter suppression. Business leaders spoke out. Major League Baseball moved its All-Star Game from Atlanta.
Yet, when over 70,000 Georgians were almost denied the ability to vote last Saturday, there was no similar outpouring.
Not every act of voter suppression comes from a new law and not every election is subverted by the gross tactics of partisan actors. Voter suppression can happen — and most often does happen — when election officials simply refuse to follow existing laws or make choices about how to interpret technical legal provisions in ways that disadvantage voters.
For example, in this year’s midterm elections, Bexar County, Texas was successfully sued for violating state law when the county failed to designate the correct number of polling locations. The same happened in Dutchess County, New York when election officials refused to establish a polling place at Vassar College, despite a state law requiring them to do so. York County, Pennsylvania was sued for failing to translate election materials into Spanish as the law has required for decades. . . .
When former President Donald Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) to “find” 11,780 votes after the 2020 election, we understood it to be an attempt to subvert the election results. Months later, when the state enacted a new election law that made registering to vote and voting more difficult, it was widely labeled as voter suppression. Business leaders spoke out. Major League Baseball moved its All-Star Game from Atlanta.
Yet, when over 70,000 Georgians were almost denied the ability to vote last Saturday, there was no similar outpouring.
Not every act of voter suppression comes from a new law and not every election is subverted by the gross tactics of partisan actors. Voter suppression can happen — and most often does happen — when election officials simply refuse to follow existing laws or make choices about how to interpret technical legal provisions in ways that disadvantage voters.
For example, in this year’s midterm elections, Bexar County, Texas was successfully sued for violating state law when the county failed to designate the correct number of polling locations. The same happened in Dutchess County, New York when election officials refused to establish a polling place at Vassar College, despite a state law requiring them to do so. York County, Pennsylvania was sued for failing to translate election materials into Spanish as the law has required for decades. . . .
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