Republicans restrict Georgia election law: ‘It’s clear racism’

A few months after the Democrats won the US presidential election, Republicans are trying to make drastic changes to electoral laws. A selection of new measures: Postal voting and the right to vote early in the weekend will be restricted and the number of ballot boxes will be reduced. All proposals have one thing in common: they primarily affect the black voter.

An “unabashedly racist,” iconic Baptist church pastor Timothy MacDonald calls the new electoral laws. His church is located in Atlanta, the state capital of Georgia, which surprisingly went to Democrats in November. Republicans are also trying to change the electoral laws there.

The priest organizes events on the Sundays before the elections under the slogan Souls for polls, where all attendees go to the polls together after service. Thanks to this event, he regularly reaches 100% attendance among his churchgoers. If Americans weren’t allowed to vote on Sunday, they would have been Souls for polls Also unable to find a way.

I haven’t seen since the fifties

MacDonald explains that the inability to vote on Sunday is not the only measure that makes voting more difficult for black voters. “They want to make voting compulsory by mail, which not many African Americans have and you have to pay for. Plus, they want to reduce the number of ballot boxes in black neighborhoods. If you have to drive more to vote, it works.” Frustrated. They know it, and that’s why they want to do it. It’s pure discrimination and clearly racist.”

The new bills come after Trump’s unfounded allegations that he lost the election due to “massive voter fraud”. “This bill is designed to restore the trust of our voters,” said Representative Barry Fleming, who initiated the Georgia bill.

But MacDonald says the law has nothing to do with restoring trust. “In the United States, and especially in the South, we have a history of voter suppression, especially the African American voter. But since we were so successful in the last election, there is now concerted action to suppress the black vote. They are doing their best to prevent such a turnout again.” We haven’t seen this kind of legislation, this kind of repression, since the 1950s.”

Sweets in a jar

When he was a little kid, McDonald’s father took him to a polling station to show him how hard it is to vote. “Before my father could vote, he had to guess how many candies were in the jar. These were tests they only use with African Americans.”

MacDonald says Republicans are now trying to secure their power once again by “suppressing our vote”. “We will deploy our people and they will vote and we will win. We have to show that we can beat them at their game, despite the obvious racism.”

Watch Georgia reporter Lucas Wagmeister’s report: