It always amazes me what some people will do to stop others from voting. By the end of last year, the Brennan Center for Justice had identified 441 new laws designed to make voting more difficult. Where I come from, we work hard to persuade people to vote, not to stop them.
Now, ProPublica has done a deep dive into the challenges of voting in the South. For Georgia’s Primary Day, there used to be literacy tests — tests that White people did not need to pass, but Black people did. Now there are affidavits to sign to prove/to explain why someone might need help at the polls. There are new deadlines, rules about who can touch an absentee ballot, and much more — all designed to stop people from voting.
One of the most ridiculous is the outlawing of drop boxes. Heaven forbid that people who could drive to a nearby huge stable box and tuck their ballot in without driving all the way downtown or to the next town to the Auditor’s Office. We urge you to read every word and then to take action … demand that your elected officials make it easier, not harder, to vote, and then “watch them” to be sure they do.