Election officials are closely watching voter turnout this year, especially following the passage of House Bill 92. Signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal in May, HB 92 shortened the period for early voting in person from 45 days to 21 days. Proponents say the change will save money and prevent confusion.
The bill — which had bipartisan support — also for the first time required that a special early in-person voting session be scheduled for a Saturday. For the March 6 primary, that session is set for today.
Some officials are expressing concerns about how the law will affect access to the ballot box.
“I still believe going from 45 to 21 days inhibits full participation of the voters,” said state Sen. Vincent Fort of Atlanta, the Senate Democratic whip, who voted against HB 92 last year. “I believe then and I believe now that ... they did it because they wanted to restrict turnout in November of this year in the presidential election” when President Barack Obama will face re-election.
Early Voting, like the Tax Rate becomes sacrosanct when a certain level is achieved. If someone dares to reduce that rate then the rhetoric says that they have a nefarious reason for their activism. When a Black Progressive critic is given a microphone to comment on the matter there is a good possibility that Racism(!!!) is going to be included as an additional indictment. When we listen to the claims of "voter suppression", second only to "carding everyone" and thus "suppressing Black people" is the claim that by reducing early voting "because too many Black people voted in 2008" is a close second.
The state of Georgia reduced the window for Early Voting from 45 days in advance down to 21 days. They added Saturday voting and to top it off it had bi-partisan support.
The issue should not be left up to the hyper partisan (and racism chasing) views of Sen Vincent Fort (of Atlanta's "Pittsburgh Community" - where many "Civil Rights Violations That Are Not Called "Civil Rights Violations" Because Of The Assailant's Attributes).
There was no "Early Voting" 10 to 20 years ago. It was created to relieve the pressure on the system during the official election day. Why is it that 45 days is "just right" but 21 days is suppression?
In the view of Sen Fort - cost savings or efficiency doesn't matter. In the mind of the Racism Chaser any perceived reversal of fortune is one more step closer to "Jim Crow".
If there was more sense about our community we would expand our political discourse beyond the perceptions of "voter suppression" which promote the defensive spirit within our community and instead invest more scrutiny on the places where the Equal Black Ballot has been accomplished control over our "Human Resource Development Institutions", affirming its efficacy in developing our people.
If the RESULTS were put forth as the primary focus - we would soon see that the policy wonkishness of the racism chasers are done to pettifog our attention away from the sad truth that what is POPULARLY promoted into power for the benefit of our community is not always so.
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