Friend - 

We’re kicking off 2022 sharing what we collectively accomplished in the last quarter of 2021. The work has been impactful, and so are the accomplishments. 

Here are some of Fair Fight’s top wins from 2021 at a glance:

• Fair Fight eliminated over $212 million in medical debt for 108,000 individuals across five Southern states.

• As voters in Georgia went to the polls for the first time since SB 202 went into effect, Fair Fight worked to encourage voters, despite the onslaught of negative messaging around SB 202. Our voter education efforts culminated in www.PeachVote.com. 

• Fair Fight invested in Georgia 2021 municipal elections that saw victories all across the state: 43 Georgia target races resulted in wins, and 12 Fair Fight-endorsed candidates won their races.

• Fair Fight also continued the fight for voters in court through its lawsuit against Texas-based right-wing organization True the Vote, Inc. for using tactics designed to intimidate Georgia voters, particularly voters of color and first-time voters. 

And top wins for Fair Fight Action’s in 2021 include:

• Fair Fight Action’s Research and Policy team continued work as a national leader in understanding and outcompeting disinformation. Our team provided education, rapid response, and safety guidance on the threat of of disinformation to allies, election workers, and the media and worked with national partners to ensure anti-democratic, disinformation- fueled efforts were exposed in a responsible manner using best practices to combat propaganda without amplifying through the launch of NotAnAudit.com. 

• Fair Fight Action produced and introduced the first state report into the Congressional Record in support of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act (JLVRAA) for Georgia, which included over 100 voter declarations: “Georgia’s Enduring Racial Discrimination in Voting and the Urgent Need to Modernize the Voting Rights Act.” 

• Fair Fight Action’s Voter Protection and Organizing Teams worked cross-departmentally and with external partners to: 

  • Support local efforts nationwide to slow down hundreds of anti-voter bills in states such as AZ, TX, and MI;

  • Mitigate the impact of SB 202 on Georgia elections and educate voters about its harmful provisions;

  • Significantly advance the fight for federal voting rights legislation, including by grassroots and grasstops advocacy and by preparing comprehensive reports for inclusion in the Congressional Record arguing for bringing Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Alabama back under preclearance as established by the Voting Rights Act of 1965; 

  • And document the impact of voter suppression on individual voters in Georgia and across the country. 

As we move forward this year, the following three pillars will guide Fair Fight’s future efforts, investments, and resources:

Building to Win in Georgia

Strategic Investments and Activity Around the Country

Expanding People Power in the South

And in 2022, Fair Fight Action will be focused on: 

Georgia 2022 Legislative Session and Year-long Accountability

Voter Protection in Georgia and Key States Nationwide

National Leadership and Federal Advocacy for Voting Rights

And Major Georgia Litigation Going to Trial in 2022

A MESSAGE FROM CIANTI STEWART-REID 

Dear Readers of The Fight,

In 2021, we were laser-focused on combating the assault on our democracy, an assault which not only happened on January 6, but has reverberated over again and again in statehouses restricting access to the right to vote. As election workers were under attack and election sabotage became a central strategy of the Republican party, Fair Fight and Fair Fight Action led the national fight to protect voters, election workers, and access to the ballot. Fair Fight and Fair Fight Action were essential in both mitigating the impact of voter suppression at the state level and advocating for federal legislation to protect the freedom to vote.

The failure of the United States Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act in January 2022 was unacceptable. We cannot tolerate barriers to voting for voters of color, veterans, voters with disabilities, rural voters, new Americans, or young people. We cannot tolerate efforts to remove local election officials or harass them to prevent them from counting every vote. Instead, we must join together at the local, state, and federal level to protect the voice and vote of every American.

I know that many of you have spent the last year working tirelessly to advance voting rights in our country. I share your frustration and disappointment in our elected leaders. It is the repeated blow to communities of color, young people, the disabled and many others, that our vote is not worth their effort. For that reason, I am sad. But, I am not hopeless.

I am filled with hope and faith in you. We will do what we can and what we must to protect and advance the freedom to vote for Georgians and all eligible Americans. It will be hard. But, together, we will continue to fight for ourselves, our families, neighbors, and communities. 

History has already made clear that in moments like this, it is up to us to carry the fight forward. We have faced and overcome staggering odds before, and we will do so again.  

Yours in the fight,

Cianti Stewart-Reid  

Executive Director 

Fair Fight 

WHY YOU ARE FIGHTING

In December 2021, we asked why YOU joined the movement to protect voting rights in America. Your responses were both inspiring and encouraging– take a look at this thread. #WithYourWork

WAYS TO FIGHT BACK

• Advocate: Fair Fight Action is launching Democracy Watch, a new program to ensure that all Georgia county election meetings are attended by people who support voting access and that pro-voting voices are heard at those meetings. In joining Democracy Watch, volunteers like you will attend and/or submit public comments at your local Georgia Board of Elections and other local county meetings to make sure members at those bodies that are critical to elections administration are hearing the reasons and ways they should and can be supporting their voters. This program is only based in Georgia. We are currently looking for volunteers in Chatham, Clarke, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, and Newton counties. Sign up here.

• Volunteer: Sign up here to ensure you get emails about volunteer opportunities.

• Donate: You can contribute to fighting voter suppression here.

• Engage: Follow us on: Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The best way to stay engaged is to be on the lookout on our social media for calls to action in real time! Share Fair Fight’s content with your networks to promote good information and encourage others to join our fight.

FAIR FIGHT ACTION’S KEY UPDATES 

Where We Are

On January 19, 2022, 52 U.S. Senators refused to support a rule change that would allow the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act to advance. The Senate obstructionism is a reminder that we don’t elect saviors—we elect servants. Sometimes these servants fail us, as they did today—despite the best efforts of Sens. Schumer, Warnock, Ossoff, and other Democrats who have been leading the charge on voting rights. But you can be sure of this: Fair Fight Action and our allies on the front lines of the fight to protect our freedom to vote will not waver.

The failure of the United States Senate to pass the Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act is unacceptable. We stand with you in our collective frustration, and our desire to do better. We cannot tolerate barriers to voting for voters of color, veterans, voters with disabilities, rural voters, new Americans, or young people. We cannot tolerate efforts to remove local election officials or harass them to prevent them from counting every vote. Instead, we must join together at the local, state, and federal level to protect the voice and vote of every American.

History has already made clear that in moments like this, it is up to us to carry the fight forward. We have faced and overcome staggering odds before, and we will do so again in 2022. As Senator Warnock said, we cannot turn away. We must have the courage to fight for one another, and we will work as a community to fulfill the promise of our democracy and ensure that the voice of every American is heard.

After the Senate failed voters across the country, Fair Fight Action invested in a half a million statewide TV and digital ad buy in Georgia to remind voters that we are still in this fight and will continue to fight for the freedom to vote. You can watch the ad here.

Fair Fight Action’s Civics for the Culture

Civics For The Culture is BACK! Olympian Allyson Felix joins Fair Fight Action’s Chelsey Hall to break down how redistricting works and how gerrymandering strips away power from our communities. 

Legislative Session

On December 14, 2021, Fair Fight Action led over 20 GA-based voting rights advocates to speak out against one of the most dangerous bans on drop boxes our nation has ever seen. This effort by Georgia Republicans, even before the official start of the 2022 legislative session, represents their latest attack on Georgia democracy. Georgia's progressive and voting rights ecosystem is strong and ready to fight back against these anti-voter efforts. Read our joint letter, here. 

Fair Fight Action is currently supporting Gwinnett County residents and legislators fighting back against Georgia Republicans’ attempt to force a racial gerrymander of Board of Education districts to consolidate power. While this fight is ongoing, Fair Fight Action continues to engage our Gwinnett County volunteers and supporters with ways to take action.

Education has become a key battleground in the 2022 legislative session, and Fair Fight Action is working in coalition with advocates, students, and experts to fight classroom censorship and efforts by Republican legislators to slash public education funding. This includes Governor Kemp and Republicans’ prior cuts and underfunding of education, raising awareness on this key issue.

Disability Council

Our Disability Council, comprised of disability advocates and policy experts from across the country, continued to advocate for disabled voters. Lower-income communities and disabled Georgians were hit hard by the pandemic-induced recession. Still, Brian Kemp refuses to expand Medicaid—which would help save lives. Fair Fight Action also pushed for Medicaid expansion to be added to Georgia’s special legislative session agenda.

Litigation 

Fair Fight Action v. Raffensperger is moving forward and our legal team is preparing for trial, tentatively scheduled for April, 2022. The federal lawsuit against Georgia’s Secretary of State and State Election Board alleges unconstitutional voter suppression. In the course of the trial, the State of Georgia will have to defend its suppressive voting practices while Fair Fight Action will seek remedies to put a permanent end to those practices. Fair Fight Action’s case will be the first major federal voting rights case brought under the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to go to trial after the recent Supreme Court ruling Brnovich v. DNC.

FAIR FIGHT’S KEY UPDATES

One-Year Anniversary of Historic Victories in Georgia’s U.S. Senate Runoff Election

Over a year ago, on January 5, 2021, Georgia voters from every corner of the state came together in record numbers to form a winning multi-racial, multi-generational coalition that catapulted voting rights champions Jon Ossoff and Reverend Raphael Warnock to the U.S. Senate. Black, brown and young progressive voters demonstrated their political power and refused to let the obstacles posed by voter suppression stand in their way. Now, Fair Fight is doubling down on our winning playbook to make further advances for the people of Georgia. This includes fighting for affordable and accessible health care, Medicaid expansion, Covid-19 recovery, fully funded public education, and a justice system that works for all. Underlying all of these efforts is our core mission of protecting our freedom to vote. As anti-voter Republican lawmakers continue to undermine our democracy, we will not stop working to ensure every eligible voter is able cast their ballot and have that ballot counted—and we will win again in 2022.

Electoral Victories

In 2021, Fair Fight invested in Georgia municipal elections and saw victories all across the state. 43 Georgia target races resulted in wins, and 12 Fair Fight -endorsed candidates won their races. Turnout increased in many areas compared to previous municipal elections, and we flipped city council seats all over Georgia, from suburban Atlanta down to small-town South Georgia. Many of our candidates won with 50-52% of the vote, indicating that our efforts to support their campaigns were critical to ensuring their victories. These victories are in part the byproduct of sustained investments in districts identified by Fair Fight as top targets for our long-term electoral efforts.

Relieved $212 million in Medical Debt

As we approached the 2021 holiday season, Fair Fight made a $1.4 million donation to eliminate over $212 million in medical debt for 108,000 individuals across five Southern states—Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arizona— delivering much-needed relief to 68,000 individuals in Georgia alone. This effort underscored the need for full Medicaid expansion in the 12 states that have refused to do so—including Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama—leaving their constituents vulnerable to worse healthcare outcomes as well as higher medical debt. Individuals without insurance—including the almost 500,000 Georgians—are about twice as likely to face medical debt challenges, in addition to expensive and exhausting barriers to getting basic, needed health care.

THE LANDSCAPE IN 2022

Suppressive Bills in Georgia & in State Legislatures Across the Country

In December 2021, reporting from the New York Times outlined potential upcoming efforts by Republicans at the state-level to push new anti-voter legislation in state legislative sessions across the country beginning in 2022. “In over 20 states, more than 245 [restrictive] bills put forward this year could be carried into 2022.” As a result of the Big Lie surrounding the 2020 presidential election, the GOP launched a massive anti-voter crusade across the country earlier this year and “have enacted wide-ranging cutbacks to voting access” while using “aggressive gerrymandering to lock in the party’s statehouse power for the next decade.” Read more about the Republican-led effort to push anti-voter legislation 2022 legislative sessions.

Fair Fight Action is working with in-state allies, labor unions, and national advocates to mitigate the impact of anti-voter legislative proposals by stopping, slowing down, and making legislation less harmful to voters and democracy whenever possible. We are working with our state and national partners to identify needs and plan for both traditional and expanded voter protection programs around the country. Here are some highlights of what Fair Fight Action is currently monitoring in the states: 

• In Georgia, legislation has been introduced that would completely ban drop boxes, allow for the release of ballot images to the public without a court order, and impose unnecessary, burdensome administrative processes on election officials which would further expose them to threats, harassments, and burgeoning conspiracy theories. 

• In Florida, the Senate introduced legislation to create an Office of Election Crimes and Security, which would create a new law enforcement branch to monitor elections, increase the Governor’s authority to investigate violations of election law, and increase criminal penalties.

• In New Hampshire, legislation has been introduced that would allow individual voters to act as vigilantes of election administration by suing for the removal of election officials, facilitate poll watcher intimidation of voters, and limit same day registration. 

As we move forward this year, we are forever grateful for your continued partnership. Let’s stay focused, determined, humble, and hopeful. We could not be prouder to be in this movement with you in 2022! 

Together in the Fight,

Your Fair Fight Team