On Monday, the first day of in-person early voting in Georgia, dozens of black senior citizens were ordered off a bus taking them to a nearby polling station to cast their ballots. A county clerk for Jefferson County, Ga., had ordered a senior center to take about 40 of its residentsβall of whom are blackβoff the bus because local officials felt βuncomfortableβ with allowing the seniors onto a bus with an βunknown third party.β
That third party? Black Voters Matter, a non-partisan group that arranged for the bus to take the seniors to vote.
Suggested Reading
As Think Progress first reported, Black Voters Matter has been conducting voter outreach and engagement throughout the state in the lead up to the midterm elections. After an event at the nearby Leisure Center in Louisville (also in Georgia) extolling the importance of voting, Black Voters Matter invited the seniors onto their bus to head to their polling place.
But as they were preparing to leave, a director for the senior center ordered the eager would-be voters off the bus. A Jefferson county administrator had called the center, which is county-operated, with concerns, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
County Administrator Adam Brett said in a statement to the AJC, βJefferson County administration felt uncomfortable with allowing senior center patrons to leave the facility in a bus with an unknown third party.β
βNo seniors at the Jefferson County senior center were denied their right to vote,β Brett claimed.
But LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said the move was an intimidation tactic.
βEven in the absence of law, they will use tactics like intimidation and voter suppression,β Brown told Think Progress. βSomebody called the county commission, but there was nothing illegal or inappropriate.β
Brown told the AJC that Black Voters Matter had secured permission from the senior center for the voter outreach event. While it was originally planned to help rally and encourage seniors to vote, Black Voters Matter say some of the seniors asked whether they could be taken to an early-polling site once the event ended.
The news comes amidst growing concern over voter suppression tactics in Georgia. In a hotly-contested governorβs race, Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams has called on Republican candidate and Secretary of State Brian Kemp to resign as the stateβs election chief. Her call follows an AP report that found Georgia put a hold on more than 53,000 voter registration applications because they didnβt meet the stateβs βexact matchβ standard.
Nearly 70 percent of the deferred applications belong to black residents, the AP writes.
Fortunately, the senior citizens remain undeterred, and simply plan on casting their ballot later.
βThe seniors were so resolved. They said: βWeβre going to vote. Nobodyβs going to stop us,ββ Brown told the AJC. βIt wasnβt the first time someone has denied them or tried to prevent them from voting.β
Straight From
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.