Reflection on Voter Suppression

Voter’s suppression is something that African Americans have endured for decades. This drew me to America’s Relentless Suppression of Black Voters from day 3 of the 21-Day Challenge. There were times when the black vote were not even counted as votes, and in today’s day and age we still have leaders trying their best to suppress black votes.

We feel that this is the perfect time to bring up this type of conversation because we have just passed the primary, and the general election this fall is fast approaching.

Yet many people within vulnerable populations feel that their votes do not count. One factor that has led to this mindset began from black votes being pulled from the overall vote submissions in the past.

One recent example of voter suppression occurred in 2017 and 2018 in Georgia.

Brian Kemp is the current Governor of Georgia but was running for Governor and was the Secretary of State during the time his actions suppressed black votes. One of his main responsibilities was to oversee the state elections.

“In July 2017, Kemp’s office purged nearly 600,000 people, or 8 percent of the state’s registered voters, from the rolls; an estimated 107,000 of them were cut simply because they hadn’t voted in recent elections.”

In 2018, Kemp blocked the registration of 53,000 residents that were all African Americans, which hindered the possibility of votes projected to go towards Democrat Stacey Abrams ballot that would have been the first African American woman Governor.

All of our voices matter, and I encourage everyone to do what you can to learn about and fight against injustices like voter suppression. To read more about voter suppression of black voters, click here.

Stay Safe!
Sincerely,
Cinthea Fields Community Engagement Specialist