Jim Crow Business in Georgia

 

Moral Monday Georgia, along with American Friends Service Committee, Held a Rally and Sit in on this past Monday at the Georgia Capitol in Protest of Clear voter Suppression Tactics by Secretary of State Brian Kemp.

Today we learned that the judge presiding over the case has decided not to intervene in the Secretary of State’s work despite the fact that young folks who registered, and have proof that they registered, are missing from the voter polls during an election that has already started.

We are in what appears to be a crisis of democracy, and on Monday several Moral Monday Georgia participants felt strongly enough about the issue to march the following letter into Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s office:

Dear Secretary of State Brian Kemp,

This past year we've seen a historic effort to register new voters in Georgia and change a political landscape that continues to benefit a few people at the cost of everyone else.  

Right now, weeks after early voting has begun 40k eligible voters have yet to be entered into the voter rolls. 40k is enough to win or lose this election. We know that most of these 40k are young people who have never voted before and come from communities of color.

On October 24, 2014 four witnesses were not allowed to testify at the hearing against Brian Kemp's office. All four had registered to vote and are not on voter roll yet. Two of them are young first time voters.

We are troubled that you call the lawsuit, "frivolous” This is not frivolity; access to the ballot box is essential to our democracy.

Imagine if you had gone through the trouble of registering to vote and when Election Day came you were told your name was nowhere to be found.

We have a simple question: Mr. Secretary – if you have found all of our missing registered voters, where are they?

The reality is that the election has begun and already 40k voters have been silenced, shut out of the process. We belief that this is a crisis of democracy, and today some Moral Monday Georgia participants are willing to nonviolently put their freedom on the line to put a spotlight on this crisis.

We have decided to remain in your office until this issue is addressed. This means we would like to see every one of the missing registered voters entered into the voter rolls. We believe that in a democracy every voice matters, and we’re counting on you to do the right thing and make sure the promise of democracy in Georgia is realized.

Signed,

Concerned Georgians

Moral Monday Georgia

____________________________________________________________________________________

Eight Georgians (Kevin Moran 66, Greg Ames 66, Daniel Hanley 33, Lorraine Fontana 67, Peggy Marx 58, Joel Solow 27, Molly Swann 62, and Kathy Acker 62) were arrested for refusing to leave Kemp’s office until he answered.

Ironically they were arrested for disrupting government business. Sadly these days it seems voter suppression is the business of Kemps office, which sits directly across from Governor Deal’s office. Arguably no one stands to gain from blocking young people and communities of color more than Governor Deal who sits several spaces higher on the totem pole above Kemp.

Another sad irony is that the reason Kemp wasn’t in the office that day is that he is currently on a GOP Victory tour. We today Governor Deal and Brain Kemp did get a victory, they have successfully built a barrier to the pole for the group of people who are most likely to vote against them. It’s a victory that should not be celebrated.

 

There's a name for this kind of business, we used to call it Jim Crow. Jim Crow existed to ensure that policies and laws that only benefited some remained by stopping those negatively affected from participating in the democratic process. Jim Crow will forever be synonymous with nasty, mean business. 

We are proud to be able to share space with the Moral Monday Georgia arrestees as their bold action shined a light on the kind of government business that is worth disrupting.

 

Some mainstream press articles on Monday's action:

ThinkProgress

Atlanta Journal Constitution

Creative Loafing

DEMOTIX

 

 

As the Election Begins, 40k Newly Registered Voters Have Been Left Behind in Georgia

Today on the second day of early voting, a delegation of folks representing a number organizations delivered over 33k petition signatures to Secretary of State Kemp’s office demanding that voters, some having registered as far back as May of this year, be added to the voter rolls. With early voting launching Monday, the Georgia Secretary of State is sitting on valid voter registrations. The most important role of the secretary of state's office is to make sure elections are fair, accessible, and secure. Processing these registration forms is not only the right thing to do — but it's also his job.

Color of Change and PowerPac+, and were joined by leaders and activists from Moral Monday Georgia, including American Friends Service Committees, to insist that the Secretary of State do everything in his power to stop this latest voter suppression attempt and uphold his oath to Georgians.

After making brief statements to the press we delivered the petitions to Kemp's office and demanded a response in the next 24 hours. To date Kemp's office has refused to give any reason for his refusal to add the 40k newly registered voters into the system, and he has likewise refused to meet with Moral Monday or other long standing civil rights groups like the NAACP Georgia.

 

The fact is that this election has already started; the polls are officially open for early voting and 40k newly registered voters are being denied access to the polls. 40k is more than enough voter to through the election, which calls into question the legitimacy of Georgia’s claim to democracy. It is deeply troubling that even to the casual observer following this story it seems that Georgia’s Secretory of State is successfully attempting to block 40k people of color from having access to the polls in 2014.

People Push Back Against Voter Suppression In Georgia

On September 9th, the public saw two disturbing attempts to silence our voices and thwart efforts to register and engage voters in Georgia. Brian Kemp, the Secretary of State, issued a broad and vague subpoena to the New Georgia Project. The New Georgia Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on registering Georgians to vote, particularly the estimated 800,000 eligible African American, Latino, and Asian American citizens of Georgia. Brian Kemp also expressed extreme disdain for Sunday voting.

 Last week he Secretary of State’s office has now called for an emergency hearing for Wednesday, September 17th. The State Board of Elections will met with almost no public notice but that didn’t stop us from packing the room and exposing what was really happening; voter suppression.

 These actions, we fear, seem designed as steps to block communities of color from the polls, and successful voter registration activities by all types of organizations. However, the Secretary of State has not responded to a letter sent by multiple organizations or request to meet. Instead, he schedules a last minute hearing to get authority for subpoenas he has already issued.

American Friends Service Committee worked through Moral Monday Georgia to help organize a large press conference before the hearing at the Capitol. After the press conference over 50k completed voter registration forms were delivered to Brian Kemps office and we refused to leave until he met with us. At the hearing we packed the room. As the hearing began several Moral Monday Georgia participants stood up, put stickers that read, “Vote” over their mouths, and turned their backs on the hearing. Surprisingly no one was asked to leave.

 We demand that the Secretary of State get back his job of making sure verified voter registration applicants make it on the rolls successfully by the start of early voting on October 13th.