Voter suppression in rural Georgia mirrors systemic racism across the
South

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Dwayne Fatherree  Read the full piece here

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Looking down Peterson Avenue in Douglas, Georgia, it is easy to slip
back in time. If you squint past the late-model cars and ignore the
occasional modern building, the old brick structures and small shops
that line the city's downtown hark back to 1950s Americana.

Behind the peaceful façade, however, powerful forces are in
motion. The quiet calm that envelops the streets as the sun sets
counters the turmoil that the rise of Trumpian politics has brought to
the region.

Just off the main drag on Ashley Street, the shell of the Coffee
County Elections & Registration office is still standing, for now
at least. A new building is coming to replace the boxy brown,
single-story affair.

The building became infamous thanks to videos of local election
officials leading "cyber sleuths" inside to access some of
the county's voting machines in 2021.

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The officials were seeking to find evidence of the widespread fraud
they claim helped prevent Donald Trump from winning a second term as
president.

But these sorts of election shenanigans are not new to Coffee County.
Douglas Mayor Pro Tem Olivia Coley-Pearson

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, who has served on the city's commission for more than two
decades, faced two felony trials for helping a first-time voter
understand how a voting machine worked in 2012. And the ongoing effort
to gain equal representation for Black and Brown residents is a
never-ending struggle that has become more heated as traditional
conservatism has given way to MAGA extremism, especially in the
deep-red rural South.

"In terms of voting rights, I've definitely seen
regress," Coley-Pearson said. "Back in the 1960s, we had
to count the jelly beans

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, this, that and the other. We aren't still there, but where we
are is a more sophisticated means of voter suppression. We might have
progressed some at one point in time, but we are currently moving
backwards."

Poy Winichakul, senior staff attorney for Democracy and Voting Rights
at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the systematic effort to
minimize the collective voting power of communities of color in
Georgia and across the South requires local leaders like Coley-Pearson
to stand up.

Read More

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