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Maybe This Time Will be the Charm – There’s Still No Voter Fraud, Says Election Administration Group

May 26, 2021 (ATLANTA, GA) – Following news that a Georgia superior court judge has allowed a group that claimed fraud in the 2020 presidential election to unseal and evaluate Fulton County absentee ballots, Georgia Votes’ Election Administration Workgroup vehemently objects to this belated attempt to undermine the integrity of the  state’s election process.  The group, which turned its attention to voter education in the wake of Governor Kemp signing SB 202 into law, sees this latest effort as yet another effort to discourage and disenfranchise Georgia’s most vulnerable residents. 

“More than six months has passed since the presidential election,” says Susannah Scott, President of the League of Women Voters of Georgia, “and  the idea that Georgia votes are being reviewed – yet again – is absolutely mind boggling.” As the Coalition mobilizes to get voters registered to vote ahead of the 2021 municipal elections, they’re convinced that this ballot review is yet another form of voter suppression and are concerned that this latest news will be seen as another hurdle people have to clear  in order to have their voices heard and their votes counted. 

“The latest ruling is proof positive of the damaging effects of SB 202, giving even greater, unwarranted credence to people who want to question the validity of our election process. It’s also further evidence that national, partisan attempts to undermine the outcome of the 2020 election are spreading like wildfire,” said Helen Buter, Executive Director for the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda. “We’re on the side of voters here, and we understand what makes people rightfully skeptical about everything going on. We remain optimistic, however, that people are becoming skeptical of the people leading these mass lobbying efforts to hurl false complaints about electoral impropriety, and not the process itself.” 

With legal challenges to the state’s new voter suppression laws underway and voter education efforts ramping up, the Election Administration Coalition has a clear message: “People know the power they wield when they get active and stay engaged,” said Malika Redmond, Executive Director of Women Engaged. “We made history this last election cycle, and the momentum is only building. Foolish claims like these only give us more fuel to light our fire – we will connect Georgia voters to the elections process and help make sure their voices and votes matter and are heard.”

About Georgia Votes

Georgia Votes is a group of non-profit, non-partisan organizations working to uphold safe and fair elections in Georgia. The Election Administration Workgroup includes: League of Women Voters Georgia

Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum- GA Chapter.

By Helen Butler, Executive Director, The People’s Agenda

This year’s legislative session has brought with it many twists and turns. On the heels of record turnout during our General and U.S. Senate Runoffs, and following the January 6th insurrection on Capitol Hill, members of our state legislature sought to totally upend the democratic process in Georgia. After a slew of voter suppression bills aimed at limiting access to the ballot passed along partisan lines, Governor Brian Kemp recently signed into law an omnibus bill that rolls back voting rights, especially for the most underrepresented and vulnerable members of our communities. 

It’s hard to believe that in 2021 we find ourselves on the front lines of a battle against Jim Crow-era like restrictions. Given the massive turnout by voters of color and traditionally “hard to count” residents of our state, however, it’s sadly not a surprise. But, despite the odds against us, we remain undeterred and more committed than ever to make sure we have a fully functioning, equitable and participatory democracy at work in this state. Instead of making it harder to vote, we fervently believe that now is the time to make engaging in the civic process easier for Georgia residents. 

The people of this great state, especially New Americans and people of color, have been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, by November of last year, Black Georgians had filed 71% more continued jobless claims than white, Asian and Hispanic/Latinx residents combined. The dramatic increase in anti-Asian hate nationwide hit us particularly hard when just weeks ago six Asian women were brutally murdered at Atlanta-areas spas in senseless acts of violence and cowardice. And Latino members of our communities, many of whom are classified as “essential workers” account for nearly one-quarter (21%) of active COVID cases around the state. The social and economic consequences of the pandemic are very real, and in times like this, our elected leaders must reflect the needs and values of the communities they represent. Unfortunately, partisan politics has taken precedence over the needs of real people and the new voting laws we now face will make it harder for significant portions of our communities to actively participate in electoral politics. 

Contrary to what their proponents claim, these laws do nothing to protect the electoral process and, instead, do everything to reduce voting options for everyday Georgia residents, especially members of our historically underserved and underrepresented communities. The most egregious of laws restricts voting by mail (absentee voting), shortens the time frames to conduct runoff elections, increases voter identification requirements, reduces the presence of dropboxes in communities, and wrests control of elections administration from local elections officials. The power grab at play serves to do little more than complicate our elections process and further disconnects people from participating fully in our representative democracy. Yet and still, we persist.

Lawsuits are already underway challenging these mass attempts at voter suppression. And while we disavow any legislation that disadvantages or disenfranchises Georgia voters, we are prepared to meet this moment. Our job, as organizers and community advocates, is to make sure that Georgia voters are well apprised of the impact of these new rules and that they are adequately prepared to register and turn out the vote in future elections. Georgia voters deserve to be full participants in our democratic society, and where legislation has failed to make their participation easier, organizations like ours stand on the front lines ready to help people better connect with the electoral process.

Faced with the most egregious attack on voting rights our state has seen in at least two generations, we are encouraging people to stay vigilant and aware. We understand that there is so much that life is throwing our way at this moment, but we want people to remain optimistic, hopeful, and engaged. If our voices and votes didn’t matter so much no one would actively try to suppress them. We know that the road ahead may not be easy, but we are determined to help our state’s democracy live up to expectations. Our voices matter and our votes will count. 2020 turnout was just the beginning. We are forging ahead with an even deeper focus and stronger sense of purpose. Together, we intend to set in motion a wave of civic engagement the likes of which this state has never seen before.

Signatory Organizations 

1. The People’s Agenda
2. League of Women Voters of Georgia 
3. Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law 
4. Women Watch Afrika 
5. Feminist Women’s Health Center
6. Georgia STAND-UP 
7. Georgia Equality
8. Rep GA Institute Inc.
9. Step Up Savannah 
10. GALEO
11. GALEO Latino Community Development Fund 
12. GALEO Impact Fund, Inc.
13. Women Engaged 
14. 9to5 Georgia 
15. Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates 
16. ACLU of Georgia 
17. Care in Action
18. Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS)
19. Progress Georgia 
20. New Georgia Project 
21. Partnership for Southern Equity
22. All Voting is Local, Georgia 
23. Black Voters Matter Fund 
24. Atlanta Jobs with Justice 
25. Georgia WAND Education Fund
26. Environment Georgia
27. Georgia Budget and Policy Institute 
28. Georgia NAACP 
29. Georgia Muslim Voter Project
30. Common Cause GA 
31. Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta
32. McIntosh SEED
33. National Domestic Workers Alliance-Georgia
34. Faith in Public Life
35. New American Pathways 
36. National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
37. Georgia Conservation Voters 

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Contact: Adam Sweat,  

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asweat@progeorgia.org

media@progeorgia.org

Voting Rights Advocates Primed to Continue Battle Against Voter Suppression

April 1, 2021 (ATLANTA, GA) – Since the legislative session began on January 11th, Republican members of both the state House and Senate have aggressively pursued an agenda to fundamentally change voting rights in the state of Georgia. With more than twelve bills successfully passed, including the omnibus Senate Bill 202 which has totally upended elections administration in the state, there was a clear pattern at play: the most vulnerable residents of our state are being inappropriately targeted by voter suppression laws, says the Election Administration Coalition. 

“Georgia voters proved this election cycle that when voting is made more convenient and accessible, they are willing and able to fully participate in the process,” said Helen Butler, Executive Director of the Coalition for the People’s Agenda. “More than 5 million people turned out for the general election and 4.5 million for the U.S. Senate runoffs in the middle of a pandemic expressly because things like vote by mail and the use of dropboxes and extended early voting hours made the process more user friendly. The current effort to rollback voting accessibility is an affront to our democratic process.”

Now that Governor Kemp has signed into law legislation that fundamentally alters the course of voting in the state of Georgia, the Election Administration Coalition is turning its eye toward increased voter education efforts and supporting the lawsuits that have been filed in opposition to the bills passed this session. “Governor Kemp and the legislature have sent a clear signal that their greatest interest is in advancing partisan outcomes rather than increasing democratic participation across the state,” said Malika Redmond, Executive Director of Women Engaged. “Now more than ever, as we continue to grapple with the realities of COVID-19, we need a process in place that will ensure increased opportunity to participate in the democratic process through voting. We have a long road ahead, but we will not be deterred. The people of Georgia deserve better and we stand ready to defend and protect the voting  rights of our state’s residents” 

Senate Bill 202 along with other voter suppression legislation passed this session does everything from curtail the use of dropboxes to increasing requirements for voter identification and limiting the window during which eligible voters can both register to vote and cast their ballots. Disproportionately, those impacted by this legislation are Black and Brown people and members of low-income, underserved and traditionally underrepresented communities. “It’s hard to envision that this level of legislative overhaul would’ve been attempted had the results of the general and runoff elections been different,” said Megan Gordon-Kane, Public Affairs Manager at the Feminist Women’s Health Center. “I can’t imagine that we would’ve seen this kind of push if so many women and people of color hadn’t turned out to vote.”

County election officials have also expressed their concern and opposition to these bills, saying that they take away local control of election administration while simultaneously increasing the financial burden on counties to run elections. “This is a power grab, at best,” said Susannah Scott, President for the League of Women Voters for Georgia, noting that the takeover of county election boards will enable state legislators to remove county supervisors.

The Election Administration Coalition is actively engaged in exploring solutions to the problems created by Senate Bill 202, and the groups are preparing intensified voter education and engagement efforts to counter the damaging effects of these new laws.

About The Election Administration Coalition

The Election Administration Coalition is a group of non-profit, non-partisan organizations working to uphold safe and fair elections in Georgia. The Coalition includes Georgia Votes, Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Common Cause Georgia, League of Women Voters of Georgia, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Black Voters Matter, Georgia Conservation Voters, Women Engaged, and 9to5 Georgia.

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Georgia Votes Declares: Don’t Bother My Ballot 

Wednesday, February 3, 2021 (ATLANTA, GA) – Yesterday, on the heels of a string of proposed legislation that aims to roll back Georgia voters’ access to the ballot, Georgia Votes held a press conference demanding fair and transparent election laws for the state. 

“After what many would argue was the most successful election in Georgia history given the volume of voter turnout especially during a pandemic, we are now faced with the specter of regressive laws that seek to suppress the voices and votes of Georgia residents,” said Helen Butler, Executive Director of the Coalition for the People’s Agenda. “There has been no evidence to date of massive absentee voting fraud in Georgia or elsewhere in the 2020 election cycle,” she continued, “and there should be no rush to change a process based upon false narratives about absentee ballot fraud.”

Georgia Votes collaborative includes: All Voting is Local-Georgia, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, Black Voters Matters, Coalition for the People’s Agenda, Common Cause Georgia, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials, The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, LCF Georgia, League of Women Voters of Georgia, Georgia NAACP, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, The New Georgia Project, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The collaborative rejected baseless claims of voter fraud and emphasized a need to expand, rather than suppress the voting rights of communities across the state. 

“Georgia’s systems are set up to be secure and have multiple failsafes to prevent improper voting. Elections officials double-check absentee ballot applications and returned ballots against the voter rolls,” said Aunna Dennis, Executive Director of Common Cause. “Elections officials perform signature verification on both the application and the outside envelope of voted ballots. Voters with internet access are able to track their ballots online. The system is set up to be secure — and it works. The Cobb County audit proved that.”   

The collaborative insists that there are alternative means for confirming the identity of voters who submit absentee ballot applications and ballots that are far less burdensome than any of the proposals set forth thus far.  With nearly a dozen new voter restriction laws introduced in the last week, Georgia Votes is on high alert and prepared to mobilize to make sure that Georgia state legislators know that voters want more – not fewer – options to participate in the democratic process. 

“Copying photo IDs multiple times during an election cycle is an unreasonable and unnecessary burden on voters,” said Jerry Gonzalez, Chief Executive Officer of the Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials. “In a single election cycle, voters could be forced to make 10 or more copies of their photo ID to enclose with each application for an absentee ballot and with the ballot itself. This is just another attempt to curtail the rights of everyday Georgians and to make it harder for diverse, underrepresented and unserved members of our community to vote.”

This proposed legislation would place an undue burden on the communities of color that showed record turn out in Georgia’s 2020 election cycle. 

AAPI voters, along with Black and Hispanic voters, proved instrumental to the historic voter turnout we’ve seen over the past year. “Bills such as SB 29 take a direct aim at the culture of civic engagement that we’ve been able to build in Georgia. This bill and bills like it are detrimental to voters of all kinds, not just because of race and color, but also because of socioeconomic status,” said LaVita Tuff, Policy Director for Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta. “If we dont push back on bills of this kind, we will continue to see a false narrative painted and stated against voters that are untrue, not sustainable, and will continue to threaten their civic engagement and civil rights. We cannot stand for it.”

The full press conference can be viewed here.

About Georgia Votes
Georgia Votes is a bold, trusted, and diverse collaborative that champions an equitable and inclusive democracy, for and with traditionally underrepresented communities. Georgia Votes supports and coordinates the civic engagement programs of our diverse partner organizations, and develops the infrastructure, executes the joint strategies, and employs new tools and technology to assure a government that is more responsive to the needs of our constituencies.

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Georgia Coalition Condemns Secretary Raffensperger for Key Role in Botched Primary 

The Coalition demands Raffensperger take accountability and calls for his resignation ahead of the November General Election

Thursday, June 11, 2020 (ATLANTA, GA) Today, the Georgia Votes Coalition released a joint statement responding to widespread delays in voting caused by inadequate and in many cases fully inoperative voting machines, long lines at polls, and voters being turned away from their assigned polling locations during the June 9th Primary. 

The coalition calls on Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to accept full accountability for subjecting Georgia voters to chaotic and unacceptable voting conditions and condemned his efforts to deflect blame for voting failures across the state: 

“We are appalled at the utter disarray experienced by Georgians at the polls on June 9th. For far too many, what should have been a simple act of voting turned into a multi-hour saga of standing in long lines and even being turned away at multiple voting locations,” Jeff Graham, Executive Director, Georgia Equality said. “Ever apparent was Secretary Raffensperger’s complete disregard for his responsibility to provide fair and free elections to all Georgians attempting to exercise their constitutional right to vote.”

“Access to the ballot box in Georgia has always been precarious for voters under normal primary election circumstances, but to have these issues during a pandemic brought our worst fears to light,” Stephanie Cho, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, emphasized. “Georgians risked their health to cast a vote in this election and deserved the chance to cast their vote without barriers to the booth.”

The coalition implored Secretary Raffensperger to prevent these foreseeable issues, including raising alarms about reductions in voting machines and urging an expansion of Georgia’s vote-by-mail capabilities.  

“The writing has been on the wall for months. Secretary Raffensperger twice postponed the primary election due to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and many organizations, our coalition included, made clear the concerns about the ability to carry this election out safely and efficiently. It is baffling that Raffensperger would now express his disbelief that this would happen and attempt to point the blame at local elections officials,” James Woodall, Georgia NAACP State President, added.  

As a result of the botched primary, the coalition demands the Secretary immediately outline the remedial actions being taken to fix these issues before the general election. Because his office cannot be trusted to effectively carry out our elections, we are calling on the Carter Center to send in international observers to ensure that all Georgians have clear access to the ballot box in November. 

Tamieka Atkins, Executive Director of ProGeorgia, noted, “The Secretary’s attempts to point fingers toward hard-working and diligent poll workers and other officials, rather than accept his own department’s failure to prepare, train, and support local counties statewide, are unacceptable and will not stand. Anything less than an apology for those workers and urgent efforts from the Secretary to aid local elections officials is unsuitable.” 

Jerry Gonzalez, Executive Director, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO),  added, “Furthermore, Georgia voters deserve better than a Secretary of State who places their ability to vote in jeopardy and refuses to own up to his shortcomings in creating yesterday’s debacle. Secretary Raffensperger must resign —  as we prepare for August run-offs and the November general election, voters deserve competent leadership they can believe in, and Secretary Raffensperger has demonstrated that he is not up to the task.”

The coalition will continue pushing for the Secretary’s compliance with outlined demands and working with voters to ensure they are fully informed and able to participate in the democratic process.  

The following Georgia Votes members have issued these demands: 9to5 Georgia, All Voting is Local – Georgia, Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Atlanta, Atlanta Jobs with Justice, Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Faith in Public Life, Feminist Women’s Health Center, Georgia Association of Latino Elected Officials (GALEO), Georgia Equality, Georgia Muslim Voter Project, Georgia NAACP, Georgia Shift, Georgia Stand Up, Georgia WAND Education Fund, Latino Community Fund (LCF Georgia), McIntosh SEED, National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (NAPAWF), National Domestic Workers Alliance – Atlanta, Partnership for Southern Equity, Represent GA Action Network, SPARK Reproductive Justice Now!, Women Watch Afrika. 

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Georgia Votes is a bold, trusted, and diverse collaborative that champions an equitable and inclusive democracy, for and with traditionally underrepresented communities.