In the early 1960s, Denmark Groover Jr, a Democratic state legislator from Georgia, led the campaign for a two-round voting system as part of a brazen effort to suppress votes for African Americans. .
The segregationist argued that a run-off system, where a second round of voting takes place if no candidate gets at least half of the vote in the first round, would lead white voters to consolidate their support behind a single candidate.
Nearly six decades later, the racially motivated structure designed by Groover remains in place. Georgia is just one of two states — alongside Louisiana — that requires a runoff if no candidate meets the 50% threshold on Election Day.
On Tuesday, voters will head to the polls once again in a runoff between US Senator Raphael Warnock, the incumbent Democratic candidate, and Herschel Walker, the former American football star and Republican challenger, which will determine the size of the majority of the Democratic Party. in the Senate.
The contest is historic and in some ways a sign of progress — it’s the first time in modern history that two black candidates in Georgia have faced off for a U.S. Senate seat. According to state officials, more than 1.8 million Georgians have already voted, either in person or by mail, breaking the record for the number of ballots cast in a single day.
But despite this, the total number of early votes, and the number of mail-in votes in particular, paled in comparison to the last US Senate runoff in Georgia in early 2021 – when control of the upper house of Congress was at hand. to win. — and Democratic activists say new laws crafted by Republican state lawmakers are to blame.
“The story of this whole election cycle, and especially this second round, is really that there have been so many obstacles thrown in front of Georgian voters,” said Vasu Abhiraman, senior political adviser to the ‘ACLU of Georgia.
The debate in Georgia has centered on the Election Integrity Act of 2021, also known as Georgia Senate Bill 202, or SB202, which was passed by the Georgia Legislature and signed into law on last year by Republican Governor Brian Kemp.
The law overhauled state election rules, including implementing new voter identification requirements, limiting the use of ballot boxes introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and shortening the time available voters to request mail-in ballots.
It also cut the time between ballots in a runoff from nine weeks to four weeks — which Democrats say is straining poll workers and limiting voters’ access to early voting. The early voting period for this year’s second round was just five days, down from more than two weeks in the 2020 election cycle.
“With this ridiculous four-week runoff cycle, we are witnessing something akin to a scientific experiment on the effect of suppressing . . . electoral politics in the state of Georgia,” Abhiraman said.
The condensed early voting schedule has resulted in long queues at many polling stations – and prompted organizers to warn voters casting their ballots on Tuesday that they could end up queuing for some time.
Christopher Clark, a 40-year-old who works for a medical software company in Atlanta, waited two and a half hours to vote for Warnock last Saturday.
“It’s unacceptable,” he said. “I can’t think of anything I’m investing two and a half hours into. I had to really, really want it. And that’s really ridiculous.
SB202 has fueled controversy not just in Georgia, but across the country, as Republicans in other state legislatures propose tougher voting laws in the wake of Shelby County vs. Holder, the Supreme Court ruling of the United States of 2013 which gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Joe Biden, the US President, released a statement shortly after the Georgian bill was signed into law last year, calling it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century”, in reference to laws from the late 19th century and the 20th century that enforced racial segregation. in the American South, and arguing that many of the changes would disproportionately affect voters of color.
As an example, Biden said the law was unfair to shift workers because polling places would close before they could leave work. He also accused Republicans of closing polling places in predominantly black neighborhoods, leading to longer lines.
Republicans rejected Biden’s claims. Kemp said the president’s comments were “dishonest and completely false,” while Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state, said, “Cries of ‘voter suppression’ from those on the left ring hollow.” They argue that while election laws restrict voting in some places, they have also increased the number of drop boxes and opportunities for early voting in rural areas.
Black voters tend to overwhelmingly support Democratic candidates, while rural voters tend to favor Republicans. On the first ballot last month in the Georgia Senate race, 90% of black voters backed Warnock, compared to just 8% who voted for Walker, according to AP VoteCast data.
Financial Times analysis of voting data released by Georgia’s secretary of state showed black first-round voter turnout last month fell about 12% from the last midterm elections. in 2018, while white voter turnout increased ever so slightly.
Democratic activists nevertheless struck an optimistic tone, saying they had largely focused their efforts on educating voters about the law and how to vote.
” People are. . . aware of the power grab attempts that have occurred over the past calendar year. They understand that it is sometimes difficult and confusing to vote in Georgia, especially for black people, for young people and for those who tend to vote progressive,” said Elijah Grace, field director of the New Georgia Project Action fund. “It doesn’t matter, we show up and we show up.”