ACLU to Fulton County Election Board: We’re watching you

Voter suppression appears to be alive and well

On July 18, the Georgia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against the Fulton County elections board for not giving voters enough time to consider proposed changes to six polling places in predominantly black neighborhoods.

It’s all very technical: A judge will decide whether the elections board should have publicized for two consecutive weeks, or 14 days, the proposal to close or move several polling locations. Instead, officials published notices on Friday, July 7 and again on Monday, July 10; the following Thursday, July 13, election board members unanimously approved the changes. The lawsuit calls for the vote to be rescinded until the Board can “comply with its public duty.”

Nse Ufot, executive director of the New Georgia Project, told WABE her organization analyzed voter data and concluded the polling locations in question are heavily trafficked, despite the Elections Board members’ claims otherwise. “If people are used to voting at a particular location and then that location is changed, we could see a drop in turnout. And it’s not clear to us what data they’re using to justify these closures,” Ufot said.

No matter what the judge decides, it’s unlikely these polling station changes won’t eventually happen. But Sean Young, legal director of ACLU-GA, says, “This litigation is but one of many actions that the ACLU and its allies are taking against the death-by-a-thousand-cuts approach to voter suppression now threatening our democracy. We want to put democracy back into the hands of the voters. Here, the public did not have a reasonable opportunity to assess for themselves whether these plans were acceptable and to express those views to the Board. This litigation seeks to ensure that the Board will never again try to change polling places under cover of night without giving adequate notice to the public.”

“The right to vote cannot defend itself and requires 24/7 vigilance,” Young continues. “Voter suppression is not always intentional or obvious the worst kinds of voter suppression happen under the radar, confusing and intimidating voters with so many hard-to-understand, constantly changing rules that they simply give up voting.”

Ultimately, Young says: “The ACLU wants to send a message to elections officials around Georgia who have grown callously indifferent to the rights of its voters: We are watching you.”






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