America should listen to Stacey Abrams’ warning about ‘racist’ election laws
“I do absolutely agree that it’s racist. It is a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie,” Abrams told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union,” referring to historic state and local laws that institutionalized racism and segregation in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Efforts to curtail Sunday voting particularly target Black voters. The Christian Sabbath is traditionally important to Democrats as African American churches organize voter drives after weekly services. Attempts to shorten voting hours, meanwhile, often lead to long waits that are likely to depress turnout in cities where Democratic voters live.
Abrams, the former state House minority leader who’s regarded as a likely 2022 gubernatorial candidate, is not the only key political figure in the Peach State to condemn the bills moving through the state house. Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan agreed that the bills deliberately target Black voters. “I’m very sensitive to that,” Duncan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“There (are) a lot of solutions in search of a problem. Republicans don’t need election reform to win. We need leadership,” Duncan said. “I think there’s millions of Republicans waking up around the country that are realizing that Donald Trump’s divisive tone and strategy is unwinnable in forward-looking elections.”
A flurry of voter suppression
Georgia is not alone in seeing a fight to define election laws for political advantage.
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