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Republicans have a shameful history of voter suppression, friend -- and one of its starkest examples happened right here in Georgia.
In a single day in 2017, then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp purged over half a million voters, many of whom were Black, from the Georgia voter rolls -- as he mounted his own campaign for Governor.
Kemp won his election, friend. Now he and his buddies are building on their shameful 2018 efforts to suppress votes by scaling back access to vote-by-mail options in the middle of a pandemic.
This is outrageous, and I’m taking a stand.
Today, I’m calling on Congress to pass universal vote-by-mail, put a stop to Republican voter suppression tactics, and protect and expand our Constitutional right to vote. And I’m calling on you to add your name next to mine.
I want to be clear about this, friend: Our elections are threatened, but it’s not by baseless claims of voter fraud. Our elections are threatened by real and well-documented examples of voter suppression -- particularly aimed at people of color -- through voter-ID laws and registration purges.
In April, Republicans in Wisconsin refused to expedite access to our ballots and forced vulnerable people to put their lives at risk in order to exercise their right to vote. As a result, coronavirus cases spiked in Wisconsin after they were forced to vote in person.
And that’s the point, friend. Bad actors like Brian Kemp want to create as many obstacles as possible between everyday people and the ballot box.
We can’t let these efforts against our democracy go unchecked. I’m taking action and calling on our leaders to protect and expand our right to vote in the middle of these unprecedented times by passing universal vote-by-mail and purging racist voter suppression laws. And friend, I need you with me in that fight.
Thank you,
--Carolyn Bourdeaux
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