This seems to be REALLY DIFFICULT for people to understand: there was no "dip" or "problem" with GOP turnout in GA in the runoff- turnout hit historic highs for both parties!- but Black Democratic Georgians, including rural Black Georgians, voted in EXTRAODINARILY high numbers.
Turnout was extremely high on both sides of the aisle in Nov and Jan. Democrats put together a real multi-racial (that is, diverse voters who are Black, brown and white), multi-ethnic, truly statewide coalition. Dems had strong support and turnout levels across all demographics.
If you want to understand what this looks like, take a look at this map of GA and notice how Dem performance improved in all regions and types of counties- keep in mind rural does not equal white; suburban does not equal white. GA is diverse everywhere nytimes.com/interactive/20…
Or this on the runoff: "Far more people of both parties voted than usual in a runoff, but the Democratic turnout was stronger, largely because of Black voters." nytimes.com/2021/01/07/ups…
Dems and progressives have been out-organizing the other side all decade, the wins have been incremental, gaining steam and have built to a winning statewide coalition. And: we are not finished and will keep building this next decade.
It's in this decade that Georgians of color as a group become the majority of the population. Across the sunbelt the demographics are similarly shifting; the GOP seems hell bent on their strategy to represent a diminishing, super minority of voters only. ajc.com/news/state--re…
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It is not the time for false equivalencies or lazy analysis. That is dangerous and unhelpful as we fight to uphold democratic norms in our state and country. Let's revisit @staceyabrams' words in November 2018:
"I acknowledge that former SoS Brian Kemp will be certified as the victor in the 2018 gubernatorial election...
To watch an elected official—who claims to represent the people of this state, baldly pin his hopes for election on the suppression of the people’s democratic right
to vote—has been truly appalling. So, to be clear, this is not a speech of concession.
Concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true or proper. As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede. But my assessment is that the law allows no further viable remedy...
It is irresponsible for a trusted news organization @wsbtv in Georgia to be using a right-wing polling firm - a firm used by multiple GA GOP candidates including the Republican secretary of state - and give credence to their biased, outlier data.
Independent pollsters without an agenda of re-electing Trump have repeatedly shown what every political observer knows: GA is a toss-up. The failure of WSB to report the bias of its pollster is unacceptable; the station should retract this outlier poll and immediately cut ties.
And some receipts showing Landmark is a partisan firm with a mission to elect and promote Republicans: Landmark has worked for a vast number of GOP campaigns in Georgia. Landmark’s biggest client is Brad Raffensperger who paid Landmark $2.5 million for his SOS campaign.
Right now Georgia Republicans are trying to pass a law that forbids the state and counties from mailing absentee ballot applications to voters. (As the GOP SOS did in the June primary -- which got him scolded afterwards by his natl party.) This is unacceptable.
This means, for ex, that rural counties that are seeing covid surging & are bracing for a tough fall, won't be able to decide themselves if they want to send apps to voters in their county to help stop the spread & ensure their residents can safely participate in elections.
The GOP needs to realize that vote by mail is a tool that can benefit either party and that localities - as well as the state - should maintain as many possible tools in their toolbox to promote vote by mail generally and certainly in the midst of a raging, ongoing health crisis.
The democracy tragedy we are witnessing today across GA- long lines, malfunctioning machines, inadequate resources and training for elections officials, provisional ballot issues, inadequate back up paper ballots & more- were all predictable & preventable by one entity: (1/25)
the Georgia Secretary of State. The SOS chose to move unfunded mandates and massive quantities of mail through counties, rather than ensuring uniformity across the state through the proper resourcing of elections centrally via the state. (2/25)
In GA the SOS is required to ensure that the democracy you get doesn’t depend on where you live or what you look like; yet they didn’t take the actions needed to make democracy real for all. Again. After a similar meltdown in fall of 2018 due to incompetence & malfeasance. (3/25)
As we’re fielding concerns about the potentially troubling precedent of the GA Presidential Primary delay, some thoughts on what’s happening in GA and why @fairfightaction is supportive of the delay in this instance, but generally not supportive of delaying elections. 1/15
Our support is due to the incredibly unfortunate timing of the escalation of the pandemic plus the state’s spring election calendar. Next week is the final week of in-person early vote in the state, and many large counties were scheduled to open additional early voting sites.2/15
Next week is also the start of most large school districts in the state being closed, events are finally being canceled in the state, and tomorrow morning the Governor is convening an emergency legislative session to declare a state of emergency. 3/15
As the Dem presidential primary moves forward while the Trump GOP is in the midst of building a historic voter suppression operation for the fall, we wanted to take a moment to thank the candidates who have supported Fair Fight's efforts. 1/8 apnews.com/af2f0ede054d8b…
To be clear: @fairfightaction & @staceyabrams are not endorsing a presidential candidate; instead, we are working with the Democratic state and nat'l infrastructure to make sure the nominee has a strong voter protection program through #FairFight2020. 2/8
So first, we want to thank @amyklobuchar, @ewarren, @KamalaHarris and @SenGillibrand for taking part in our campaign to support reproductive rights and fight the abortion bans that moved in GA and around the country. 3/8