"georgia has historically been a hard place for people to vote. Stacy abrams is trying everything she can do to change that."--Polly van de water, 6th grade
Georgia has historically been a hard place for black people to vote, even with the Civil Rights movement and leaders, including Congressman John Lewis of Georgia who recently died after serving 33 years in the House of Representatives. Lewis, among others, worked very hard during the civil rights movement to secure the right to vote for all citizens, including working to pass the Voting Act of 1965.
According to History.com, “The act banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the non-white population had not registered to vote, and authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections.” However, even with this Act, people still did not get the fair rights that were intended. History.com continues that, “Although the Voting Rights Act passed, state and local enforcement of the law was weak, and it often was ignored outright, mainly in the South and in areas where the proportion of Black people in the population was high and their vote threatened the political status quo.” In 2013, the Supreme Court weakened the voting rights act significantly. They changed it to make it easier for states to create rules that made it harder to vote.
Following in Congressman Lewis’ footsteps is Stacy Abrams, a politician and activist in Georgia. Abrams was in the Georgia house of representatives for 10 years and she was the first black woman to serve as the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives.
In 2018, Abrams ran for governor against the incumbent, Brian Kemp. “Ms. Abrams ran a type of campaign that modern Georgia had never seen before, relying on turnout among minority and low-frequency voters and championing an unflinchingly progressive message,” stated The New York Times.
Abrams came within 55,000 votes out of four million votes making it the closest race in Georgia since 1966. Brain Kemp before he was governor was secretary of state and removed hundreds of thousands of people from the voting list claiming they were not accurate people. (By double counting people or people that moved away from Georgia or had died.)
She is also the founder of Fair Fight, an organization to help register voters. Abrams enjoys other things including writing romance novels. Her main focus is to secure voting rights for all people, and especially black people. She, along with the Fair Fight organization, do this work through in-person organizing and legal challenges. Her work is focused on Georgia but is expanding to other states. Stacy Abrams graduated from Spelman College; she has a masters degree in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and she has a law degree at Yale Law School.
For more information about how Abrams is impacting residents in Georgia, I interviewed Georgia resident, Tilly Hatcher. “[Abrams] is the hero that made it possible for Biden/Harris to win GA!” Hatcher said.
Hatcher also mentioned that Republicans have always had the majority of the people of Georgia on their side and that it was really encouraging to see the state evening out a bit.
Hatcher is proud of the positive attention Abrams has brought to Georgia's voting rights, but thinks that the Voting Rights Act should be reinforced in all states, not just in the states that are struggling with voter suppression. Hatcher also helped out in the 2020 president election by calling voters the weekend before election day.
To really understand what it was like living in Georgia, I interviewed Emily Bianchi, a professor at Emory University in Georgia. “Stacey Abrams has reenergized progressive voters in this state by showing them that victory is possible in what has long been a very red state,” said Bianchi “She has also brought so many more people into the political fold, particularly Black voters and young voters.”.
Bianchi went on to say that since she was a kid she has seen a big change in the way Georgia is voting. Bianchi said that she is used to seeing Democratic candidates lose in big statewide races. “Access to voting has certainly improved in recent years but it still has a long way to go. People of color still have to wait in much longer lines to vote. In rural Georgia (which is largely white), there are hardly ever lines to vote,” she said. “In largely Black city neighborhoods, these lines can be hours long. During the primary, voters in many precincts had to wait up to four hours to vote.”
“In addition,” Bianchi continued, “Black voters are also still much more likely to be dropped from the voter rolls than White voters. This means when they show up to vote, they are no longer registered and cannot cast their ballots.”
Bianchi suggested possible solutions, like automatic registration for every voter, and mailing a ballot to everyone to make voting more accessible to everyone. During this election Bianchi and her daughter Lexi wrote hundreds of personal postcards to encourage people to vote and defeat Trump.
In the 2020 presidential election Stacy Abrams did a lot to help Biden win Georgia. She made it so that 1.2 million black people voted which was a big improvement from the 500,000 black people who voted in the 2016 election.
“We promote fair elections in Georgia and around the country, encourage voter participation in elections, and educate voters about elections and their voting rights,” Abrams said. Fair Fight brings awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engages in other voter education programs and communications.
According to History.com, “The act banned the use of literacy tests, provided for federal oversight of voter registration in areas where less than 50 percent of the non-white population had not registered to vote, and authorized the U.S. attorney general to investigate the use of poll taxes in state and local elections.” However, even with this Act, people still did not get the fair rights that were intended. History.com continues that, “Although the Voting Rights Act passed, state and local enforcement of the law was weak, and it often was ignored outright, mainly in the South and in areas where the proportion of Black people in the population was high and their vote threatened the political status quo.” In 2013, the Supreme Court weakened the voting rights act significantly. They changed it to make it easier for states to create rules that made it harder to vote.
Following in Congressman Lewis’ footsteps is Stacy Abrams, a politician and activist in Georgia. Abrams was in the Georgia house of representatives for 10 years and she was the first black woman to serve as the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives.
In 2018, Abrams ran for governor against the incumbent, Brian Kemp. “Ms. Abrams ran a type of campaign that modern Georgia had never seen before, relying on turnout among minority and low-frequency voters and championing an unflinchingly progressive message,” stated The New York Times.
Abrams came within 55,000 votes out of four million votes making it the closest race in Georgia since 1966. Brain Kemp before he was governor was secretary of state and removed hundreds of thousands of people from the voting list claiming they were not accurate people. (By double counting people or people that moved away from Georgia or had died.)
She is also the founder of Fair Fight, an organization to help register voters. Abrams enjoys other things including writing romance novels. Her main focus is to secure voting rights for all people, and especially black people. She, along with the Fair Fight organization, do this work through in-person organizing and legal challenges. Her work is focused on Georgia but is expanding to other states. Stacy Abrams graduated from Spelman College; she has a masters degree in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas and she has a law degree at Yale Law School.
For more information about how Abrams is impacting residents in Georgia, I interviewed Georgia resident, Tilly Hatcher. “[Abrams] is the hero that made it possible for Biden/Harris to win GA!” Hatcher said.
Hatcher also mentioned that Republicans have always had the majority of the people of Georgia on their side and that it was really encouraging to see the state evening out a bit.
Hatcher is proud of the positive attention Abrams has brought to Georgia's voting rights, but thinks that the Voting Rights Act should be reinforced in all states, not just in the states that are struggling with voter suppression. Hatcher also helped out in the 2020 president election by calling voters the weekend before election day.
To really understand what it was like living in Georgia, I interviewed Emily Bianchi, a professor at Emory University in Georgia. “Stacey Abrams has reenergized progressive voters in this state by showing them that victory is possible in what has long been a very red state,” said Bianchi “She has also brought so many more people into the political fold, particularly Black voters and young voters.”.
Bianchi went on to say that since she was a kid she has seen a big change in the way Georgia is voting. Bianchi said that she is used to seeing Democratic candidates lose in big statewide races. “Access to voting has certainly improved in recent years but it still has a long way to go. People of color still have to wait in much longer lines to vote. In rural Georgia (which is largely white), there are hardly ever lines to vote,” she said. “In largely Black city neighborhoods, these lines can be hours long. During the primary, voters in many precincts had to wait up to four hours to vote.”
“In addition,” Bianchi continued, “Black voters are also still much more likely to be dropped from the voter rolls than White voters. This means when they show up to vote, they are no longer registered and cannot cast their ballots.”
Bianchi suggested possible solutions, like automatic registration for every voter, and mailing a ballot to everyone to make voting more accessible to everyone. During this election Bianchi and her daughter Lexi wrote hundreds of personal postcards to encourage people to vote and defeat Trump.
In the 2020 presidential election Stacy Abrams did a lot to help Biden win Georgia. She made it so that 1.2 million black people voted which was a big improvement from the 500,000 black people who voted in the 2016 election.
“We promote fair elections in Georgia and around the country, encourage voter participation in elections, and educate voters about elections and their voting rights,” Abrams said. Fair Fight brings awareness to the public on election reform, advocates for election reform at all levels, and engages in other voter education programs and communications.
