THREAD: Republicans are trying to change the rules of GA elections - rules that they wrote - because they were humiliated on November 3 and again on January 5, and they know their only chance at winning future elections is to prevent eligible Georgians from casting their ballots.
Republicans are apparently even willing to risk the identity theft of Georgians in order to impose restrictions that by their own assessments are unnecessary to protect our elections.
By requiring access to a printer, which many Georgians obviously do not have, Republicans are attempting to purposely take away the ability of many Georgians to vote by mail simply because they believe too many Democrats and too many people of color voted by mail. #gapol
Georgians will see through these cynical power grabs, but it’s going to take a big fight on the part of everyone who cares about the right to vote in Georgia; Republicans are more desperate than ever to hold onto their waning power.
Yesterday, while Georgians celebrated the inauguration of President Biden, VP Harris, and Senators Ossoff and Warnock, the GOP-led state legislature quietly announced its committee assignments for 2021 - and those assignments are unacceptable. Let’s break it down: THREAD #gapol
Chair of the Special “Election Integrity” Committee: Rep. Barry Fleming, who helped intimidate Black voters in Sparta and sent police officers to challenge their right to vote. Read about his appalling history of voter intimidation. #gapol nytimes.com/2016/08/01/us/…
On the Redistricting Committee: 5 GOP members who narrowly won reelection in competitive districts who now want to pick their voters to make their districts less competitive. Georgians should be on guard to prevent unfair maps made to benefit politicians, not voters. #gapol
We are joining 16 other voting rights and civil rights orgs in calling for the resignation of Gwinnett County elections chair Alice O'Lenick after she threatened state lawmakers and demanded they make voting more difficult in Georgia to help Republicans win. #AliceMustGo#gapol
O'Lenick isn't even trying to hide her bias against Democratic voters and voters of color in Gwinnett County. She has made clear that her only motivation is pure partisanship, engaging openly in rhetoric that is more suited for a political party hack than an elections official.
County election board members and chairs should celebrate high voter turnout, regardless of outcome, not advocate laws that will benefit one party over the other. It also should be noted that O'Lenick has a history of racist statements on social media. ajc.com/news/local/gwi…
Georgia ranks in the top 10 for states whose economy was hit hardest by COVID. Accommodation, food services, transportation, and the arts sectors have each reported a double-digit decline in economic output. One in four small businesses open in 2019 are now closed.
Last year, 3.9 million Georgians experienced loss of a job or reduced hours and more than 1/3 of unemployed Georgians were out of work for at least 27 weeks. 160,000 were at risk of eviction. Georgia apartment owners lost about $300M due to unpaid rent.
In December — at a time when families were trying to celebrate the holidays — more than 33,000 jobless claims were processed, exacerbating an already difficult year, and marking the highest number of claims since October.
Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy. As GA legislative session convenes, we oppose any efforts to create additional barriers to voting. We oppose all attempts to eliminate no-excuse absentee voting and we oppose any measures to add voter ID laws for mail-in ballots. (1/4)
Vote by mail works. Republicans are offering solutions in search of a problem. Voters of color, young voters/students, low income voters, seniors, & disabled voters will be especially hurt by any new, unnecessary photo ID requirements. (2/4)
When Republicans push baseless claims of voter fraud, push for bills and advocate for policies that make it harder to register to vote, to cast a ballot, and to have that ballot counted, they do even more damage to our already threatened democracy. (3/4)
We should not allow free and fair elections in Georgia to be undermined by baseless and unproven claims of fraud. 1/14 #gapol
Those who have echoed election fraud conspiracies without evidence under the guise of “election integrity” for years have laid the groundwork for this culture of fear and intimidation. 2/14
The Republican Party must shut down their disinformation narratives and conspiracy theories that are endangering the lives of Georgians. 3/14
THREAD: With the @GOP and @realdonaldtrump voter suppression machine in force spreading disinformation on voting in 2020, it is critical we debunk and correct the record without bolstering their platform of lies. Here is some guidance on responding to online disinformation. 1/
Do Not Retweet or Quote Tweet Trump: Doing so will amplify disinformation even if you are attempting to debunk it. Research shows this can be highly ineffective if initial disinformation is also featured prominently. 2/
Do Not Repeat Baseless Vote-By-Mail Information: Voting by mail is safe and secure. We should be expanding access to the ballot, not making it harder for people to vote during a pandemic. 3/