After crushing losses in Georgia’s 2020 presidential and U.S. Senate elections, Georgia Republicans could have tried to realign themselves with Georgians and provided working families in our state a government that helps them thrive. Instead, Republicans spent the next four years prioritizing voter suppression and tools to overturn fair elections.
Thanks to their work, convicted felon and election fraudster Donald Trump might have no trouble finding the votes he needs to win in 2024.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Over the past four years, Republicans have instituted mass voter challenges, stacked our state and local election boards with conspiracy theorists, and created unsecure websites that could allow anyone to unregister a voter from Georgia’s voter rolls.
Republicans would rather silence the voices of Georgia’s voters than win a fair election. They have abandoned the essential idea of a government for the people, by the people and of the people.
Republicans, led by Gov. Brian Kemp, now allow any individual to challenge a voter’s registration. This increases the risk of legal voters losing their right to vote or even being required to defend it in public hearings.
Anyone can use dangerous artificial intelligence software to submit infinite challenges to the elections board, claiming that an individual on the voter rolls is ineligible to vote. Right now, 31,000 Gwinnett County voters face disenfranchisement thanks to the voter challenge system. These mass challenges often lack evidence and fail to justify removing voters from the rolls. That will not stop them from trying to cut the margins as much as possible to give former President Donald Trump, the ultimate threat to American democracy, another term.
Republicans have also helped conspiracy theorists take over local election boards and ended the longtime practice of bipartisan representation on these boards. The Georgia State Board of Elections, now featuring several election deniers, is proposing changes that could allow election deniers to legally refuse to certify elections in November.
Georgia Republicans chose this path. They no longer rely on persuading voters to vote for their ticket. Regardless of the electoral margin in November, they will cry foul. They have been teeing up this play since Trump begged for the 11,000 votes he did not have almost four years ago.
The United States is based on the idea of voters choosing their leaders, not the other way around. Georgia Republicans’ efforts over the past four years could potentially destroy the foundation built more than 200 years ago. We can stop them. Check your voter registration throughout the year. Check the registration of your friends and families, too. Create a plan to vote and execute that plan during early voting or on Election Day.
We will have to fight harder than ever to ensure this election is free and fair that no eligible voter is unfairly removed from the voting rolls. Though there are many active lawsuits challenging these laws, we cannot rely on the courts to save us. Only by staying vigilant, working together and remaining united can we foil this effort to steal the election. Just like we did four years ago.
Harold V. Jones II, a Democrat, represents District 22 in the Georgia state Senate.
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