Help Move Georgia Forward
A Monday report from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution highlighted testimony from Brian Kemp in a federal voting rights trial where he attempted to defend past comments voicing concerns about Democrats’ efforts “registering all these minority voters” and about a high number of Democratic absentee ballot requests, the majority of which were from voters of color.
Kemp’s comments were made while he was overseeing Georgia’s elections as Secretary of State, a tenure during which he:
These actions directed by Kemp impacted the ability of voters of color to cast a ballot — the exact thing which Kemp voiced concern about when he made the comments.
“No matter how Brian Kemp tries to spin his indefensible comments, his record doesn’t lie — actions directed under his leadership hampered minority voters’ ability to cast a ballot. Georgians deserve a governor who respects and protects our right to vote, and who doesn’t see voters of color as a threat to their power,” said Max Flugrath, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.
After encouragement from Kemp to close voting locations, Georgia counties closed higher percentages of voting locations than any other state. Black Georgians made up a significant percentage of the population in several of the top counties where polls were closed.
Kemp also oversaw more than 1.4 million voter registrations canceled, and low-income and minority Georgians were most likely to be impacted.
Of the 53,000 voter registrations that Kemp put on hold shortly before the 2018 election under the “exact match” policy, nearly 70% were Black voters.
AJC: Kemp defends comments about minority voter registration in court
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