In what can only be hailed as a hard-fought victory against blatant voter suppression, on Friday, a rural Georgia elections board voted down a plan to close down seven of nine polling places in a majority-black county.
Suggested Reading
Many deemed the move โconsolidateโ polling places in Randolph County, Georgiaย as a brazen attempt to depress the black vote in what will be a historic election as a black woman, Democrat Stacey Abrams, faces off against a white man, Republican Brian Kemp, in Novemberโs gubernatorial election.
CNN reports that the Randolph County Board of Elections voteโwhich lasted all of 50 secondsโrecommended that the rural county, which is 61 percent African American, and which voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, keep voting precincts as they are; all members unanimously voted in the affirmative.
The vote comes after the county terminated its contract with consultant Mike Malone, who made the recommendations. Malone concluded that the closures would save the county money and said that some of the sites suggested for closure did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
And in what only could be described as a conflict of interest, CNN reports that the consultant who made the recommendations, Mike Malone, contributed $250 to Kempโs gubernatorial campaign.
Additionally, Kemp, who is Georgiaโs Secretary of State, actually recommended Malone for the job, but Kempโs office said it did not recommend Malone to propose polling site consolidation.
On Friday, Kemp said the Board of Elections in the county did the โright thing.โ
The NAACP, which had been monitoring the situation, was cautiously optimistic.
โWe are excited about this moment, but weโre watchful,โ said Edward Dubose, a member of the NAACPโs National Board of Directors, to CNN. He added, โThis is a small example of whatโs happening across Georgia to disenfranchise African Americans and minority voters.โ
Straight From
Sign up for our free daily newsletter.