John —
Republicans in 43 states have introduced 253 voter suppression bills since Donald Trump’s Big Lie spurred the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. In Georgia, one of those bills — SB 202 — just became law.
This anti-democratic bill gives state officials the power to overrule county election boards, requires ID for absentee ballots, and limits the number of ballot drop boxes like the one the governor himself used to vote. And perhaps most outrageously, the bill makes it illegal to give water to those voters waiting in line, especially odious in a state with notoriously long lines in nonwhite precincts.
It’s no coincidence that Georgia Republicans are wresting power from county election boards just months after Trump tampered with Georgia’s election results by pressuring the Georgia Secretary of State to find 11,780 nonexistent votes, and spreading lies about nonexistent voter “fraud.” They are terrified that their losses in November and January are signs of an enduring Democratic coalition that will only grow stronger.
This is a sign of a democracy in crisis, and if they are allowed to bring back Jim Crow, our democracy can’t succeed.
Georgia’s governor, infamous for purging hundreds of thousands of people from the voter rolls during his own 2018 election against Stacey Abrams, signed this Jim Crow bill beneath a portrait of a plantation and behind closed doors. A Democratic Georgia State Representative was arrested and charged with a felony for knocking on the governor’s door.
In the face of these efforts, my friend Senator Raphael Warnock has fought tirelessly to protect the vote and push back against cynical attempts to frame this as a problem in both parties. As he said yesterday:
“Folks keep asking what we are going to do about the filibuster. I think they ought to ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, what are they going to do about voting rights? Why won’t they stand up for voting rights?”
Amen. Only Republicans are trying to make it harder to vote and suppress the vote.
And as Republicans mobilize, we need to make sure that Democrats in Georgia, like Senator Warnock, are ready for the next election in 2022. Because he was elected in a special election, Senator Warnock has to win again next year amidst all of these efforts to suppress the vote.
We are determined to overcome the challenges of the past year and flip Georgia Blue not once, but twice — no matter what obstacles we face.
Will you stand with Senator Warnock and our grassroots campaigns by pitching in $10 before the critical FEC deadline?
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Thank you,
— Adam
