Black voters broke barriers in 2020. They say GA’s new voting law is ‘a slap in the face’
Fenika Miller keeps the voter registration card of her grandfather in a frame in her office. He was one of a few hundred Black men who were registered to vote in Houston County in 1962.
“I keep that in my home office as a reminder of just how we’ve had to, as a race, continue to fight just to get the basic rights that white men have,” she said.
Anger was not the best way to describe the way Miller was feeling when she found out Georgia’s General Assembly and Gov. Brian Kemp quickly passed Senate Bill 202 into law Thursday evening.
“After Black people turned out the way that they did in both November and again in January, we knew that there was going to be a backlash,” Miller, the state coordinator for Black Voters Matter, said. “We didn’t know how aggressive that backlash was going to be, how intentional and overtly targeted that backlash was going to be through all of these voter suppression bills, but we knew it was coming.”
Senate Bill 202 was an omnibus election bill that included requiring ID for absentee ballots, limiting drop boxes and changing early voting hours.
“That’s disheartening, and it’s a slap in the face to all of the folks that have come before me to continue to do this work and right here in our local community who are still on the ground doing activism work to make sure that folks have access to the ballot,” she said.
Black Voters Matter filed a complaint Thursday against several Georgia officials for the legislation, according to a news release.
Miller said Black Voters Matter will pursue every avenue in their disposal to stop voter suppression including continuing their support for community partners throughout Georgia.
Although Mike Kaplan hasn’t finished reading the entire bill, the chair of the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections said he is concerned about taking power away from the local Board of Elections to run their own elections.
“I just think it’s a little far reaching and an overreaction in some parts to a very bizarre election that was exacerbated by the pandemic,” he said.
Macon-Bibb County Commissioner and Mayor Pro Tem Seth Clark supported a resolution during Tuesday’s commission meeting that asked local delegates to vote against any legislation that would limit voting rights and take away local control over elections. The resolution passed 7-2, with Elaine Lucas, Paul Bronson, Al Tillman, Raymond Wilder, Bill Howell, Virgil Watkins and Clark voting for it, and Valerie Wynn and Mallory Jones voting against it.
“Increased participation in this process is fundamentally just a good thing,” Clark said. “If the goal is increased participation in this legislation, as stated by many of the folks, I don’t see it in the letter of the law. I didn’t see it in the letter of the proposal… I do know that the letter of the proposal as written and as signed by law, assuredly curbs voting access and assuredly limits local control in conducting free and fair elections.”
Moving forward, Clark said he believes its important for the county and the Board of Elections to educate the public on these new election rules to ensure people can exercise their right to vote.
“I was deeply saddened. I think it tarnishes the reputation of this state, and I think that it will, inarguably, strip counties of home rule and local control and will curb voting access,” he said.
Clark said he was extremely proud of the Bibb Board of Elections for running smooth and fair elections this past election cycle.
“I suspect that they’re going to work just as hard in this next election cycles, but they’re going to be working just as hard with one hand tied behind their back because of this bill,” he said. “So, I hope that they’re not set up for failure, but if they’re set up to fail, and then someone comes in and tries to take over our local authority to conduct a free and fair election, then yes, we will respond accordingly and make sure that all of our legal options are on the table.”
This story was originally published March 28, 2021 at 7:00 AM.