The Wizard of Voter Suppression: Brian Kemp's Long History of Making Black Votes Disappear

[babylonsister]

Last edited Fri Oct 12, 2018, 09:30 AM - Edit history (1)

https://www.theroot.com/the-wizard-of-voter-suppression-brian-kemp-s-long-hist-1829696413

The Wizard of Voter Suppression: Brian Kemp’s Long History of Making Black Votes Disappear
Michael Harriot
Yesterday 6:20pm


On Nov. 6, Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams could turn the nation’s political map inside out and become the first black female governor in U.S. history. The mathematics say its entirely possible. The voter enthusiasm is on her side.

There’s only one problem: She’s running against one of the greatest suppressors of the black vote in history.

Brian Kemp has served as Georgia’s secretary of state since 2010. As Georgia’s chief election officer, he is essentially in charge of voter registration, maintaining voter rolls and tallying votes. Yet, ever since he took office, he has employed every possible tactic available to keep blacks and minorities from voting. He has faced numerous lawsuits, endured condemnation and ignored public outcry as he stiff-armed every attempt from anyone who questions his methods.

Called a “remarkable architect of voter suppression” by Abrams, Kemp is a wizard of targeting black voter registrations and tossing them into the garbage. Georgia’s voting population is only 32 percent black. But a recent Associated Press analysis of 53,000 voter registration on hold with Georgia’s office of the Secretary of State shows that nearly 70 percent of the registrants being denied by Kemp’s office are black.

Brain Kemp knows how to purge voters.

Between 2008 until 2012, the state of Georgia struck 750,000 voters from its rolls, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, an unusually high rate of purging, but still within reason. However, after Kemp got his hands on the state’s voting apparatus, he has purged twice as many voters. Kemp has nixed nearly 1.4 million voters from Georgia’s books for inane reasons such as missing hyphens, rumors that voters have moved and even misspelled street names. And since he became the Republican nominee for governor, he has doubled down.

snip//

So the question remains:

Can Stacey Abrams win?

FiveThirtyEight, the wonky, statistics-based site, notes that Abrams must do three things to secure a victory.

Win 90 percent of the non-white vote: Which is doable, as most of the state’s nonwhite voters are black.

Win 25 percent of the white vote: In 2008, Obama won 23 percent of the white vote in Georgia, and the white population has significantly declined since then.

Make sure non-white voters are 40 percent of the electorate: Well ...

And that’s where Brian Kemp’s voter suppression tactics might work. Even if he can’t suppress all the black votes, he can suppress enough to give himself a tiny margin of victory.

No reputable poll has Kemp ahead of Abrams outside the margin of error. Using the latest data, Real Clear Politics’ poll average has the race as a toss-up. Anyone familiar with Georgia’s changing demographics would say that Abrams winning is possible. If she manages to pull it off, it would be magical. But anyone familiar with Brian Kemp’s long history of voter suppression already understands.

He has a way of making votes disappear.

[Meadowoak]

1. Kemp should be disqualified for cheating.

[lancelyons]

2. What is your source for this info.

[CurtEastPoint]

4. here

https://www.theroot.com/the-wizard-of-voter-suppression-brian-kemp-s-long-hist-1829696413

[babylonsister]

7. Thank you. I edited OP. nt

[bdamomma]

3. what a POS

this guy is, he should loose his seat.

[Funtatlaguy]

5. Actually, Kansas Kris Kobach is the grand Wizard 🧙‍♂️ of Voter suppression.

But, Georgia’s Kemp is a close second.
Both running for Governor as a GOP reward for their voter suppression efforts.

[Gothmog]

6. Georgia: Lawsuit challenges 53,000 stalled Georgia voter registrations Atlanta Journal-Constitutio

This lawsuit will be fun to follow https://thevotingnews.com/lawsuit-challenges-53000-stalled-georgia-voter-registrations-atlanta-journal-constitution/

A federal lawsuit filed Thursday challenges a Georgia law that has stalled the voter registrations of more than 53,000 potential voters until they verify their basic information. The lawsuit, brought by several civil rights groups, asks a judge to overturn Georgia’s “exact match” law, which requires voter registration information to match driver’s licenses, state ID cards or Social Security records. The legal action comes after The Associated Press reported this week that at least 53,000 voter registrations were flagged because of the law. Those voter registrations are on hold because of discrepancies between application information and government records, such as a missing hyphen in a last name or data entry errors. But potential voters can still participate in this year’s elections if they show photo ID either when they go to vote or beforehand. They can also mail identification to county election officials in advance. If their ID resolves the discrepancy, they will immediately become active voters eligible to cast a normal ballot on Georgia’s voting machines.

The “exact match” law has drawn criticism from voting rights groups that say it could suppress voters in the upcoming election for Georgia governor between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams. Kemp is Georgia’s secretary of state, responsible for oversight of elections and voter registration.

The lawsuit alleges that the law, passed by the Georgia General Assembly last year, has a disproportionate impact on African-Americans, Latinos and Asian-Americans who want to become registered voters. About 80 percent of applications put on pending status were submitted by those minority groups, according to the lawsuit.