What Happened in the Georgia Primary?

Ahead of one of the most important elections in recent history, voter suppression and malfunctioning machines are hindering democracy.

The coronavirus has delayed primaries in several states, and has made it even more difficult for those states with elections to vote–there are fewer poll workers willing to work, thereby reducing the number of working voter precincts. While mail-in voting has succeeded in states like Oregon, other states have seen an unprecedented rise in absentee or mail-in voting, leading to undelivered and uncounted ballots. States like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia have all seen issues with long polling lines and understaffed locations. However, voting malfunctions become even more complicated in states like Georgia, which already have historically disenfranchised voters, and have seen disproportionate rates of malfunctioning and long waits in black neighborhoods.

A “Full-Scale Meltdown” for Voters

The New York Times called June 9’s primary a “full-scale meltdown”, where brand new voting machines were either missing or broken, and many did not receive absentee ballots. Georgia had been warned by organizations such as the A.C.L.U and the Charles Koch-backed organization FreedomWorks that the brand-new voting machines that the state ordered were “difficult to set up” and could possibly be compromised, as opposed to using paper ballots. The Fulton County Elections Director said that Georgia had “mostly equipment issues, many caused by different training challenges”.

While local and state officials may have blamed poor training and technological malfunctions for the dire voting conditions, there was a sharp contrast in the ability of Black and white Atlanta precincts to vote. According to The Guardian, predominantly black voting precincts in Georgia faced long waits, a reduced number of voting precincts, and voting centers that failed to open on time. Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward, the historically black neighborhood where Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born and is now seeing increased gentrification, faced three-hour voting lines, broken machines, and technological malfunctions in 90-degree weather. Meanwhile, voting in wealthier white suburbs was said to be a “breeze”.

The State’s History of Voter Disenfranchisement

Stacey Abrams, former gubernatorial candidate in Georgia called the situation a “disaster that was preventable”, and “emblematic of the deep systemic issues we have here in Georgia.” Abrams herself was a candidate in a hotly contested election where voter disenfranchisement may have been at play. In 2018, Abrams ran against at-the-time Secretary of State of Georgia Brian Kemp, and lost by little more than 1 percent of votes. Voters also faced technological malfunctions and long wait times, specifically for communities of color. Many voters were turned away under state requirements if their personal information on voting applications did not exactly match the information in state databases–70% of those who had “pending” voting registration based on this rule were black. Sec. Kemp also oversaw the closure and relocation of thousands of voting sites, mostly targeted at low-income communities of color and students. A study showed that black voters were 20% more likely than white voters to miss voting in that election due to the closed or relocated polling sites. The organization Fair Fight Action filed a lawsuit against the board of elections and the interim Georgia secretary of state highlighting the issues in the election, however Sec. Kemp’s win still held. Both last Tuesday’s election and the 2018 election show how this nation still disenfranchises voters of color, and how ramifications from the COVID-19 crisis could further hinder access for these voters.

What will happen in Future Primaries?

Some states that saw the chaotic primaries around the nation, such as California and Michigan, have decided to mail absentee ballots to all registered voters ahead of the 2020 General Election. However, several states still have primary races between now and November, and measures must be taken so voters can vote in a timely manner with functioning machines, or receive their absentee ballots on time to cast a vote. Certain states with upcoming primaries, such as Florida and Texas, have seen poll closures that disproportionately impact students and people of color, “vote flipping” where a machine switches a vote, and discarded ballots. States and the federal government must take action not only to end COVID-19 related voter difficulties, but also to confront systemic disenfranchisement and difficulties of low-income voters of color.