For Immediate Release
[email protected]
(Atlanta, GA) – New Georgia Project Action Fund released the following statement in response to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s intention to purge more than 191,000 registered voters from Georgia’s voting rolls.
“The Secretary of State’s latest attempt to purge more than 191,000 registered Georgians from the voter rolls is just another in a long string of voter suppression tactics perpetuated by our state government in recent years. These actions are what we’ve come to expect from the Georgia GOP—led by Governor Brian Kemp—a party intent on making it harder to vote in Georgia. New Georgia Project Action Fund (NGPAF) condemns the Secretary of State’s actions, seeing them for what they truly are: an attempt to control and restrict Georgians’ civic participation by taking away a fundamental right—the right to vote.
‘Georgia is well-known for its wide-ranging and creative attempts at voter suppression,’ says NGPAF CEO, Kendra Cotton. ‘This latest attempt from the Secretary of State is completely unsurprising to me. Brad Raffensperger and his buddy, Brian Kemp, have been at this for years, with Kemp overseeing the purge of more than 900,000 registered voters from the rolls since 2017. In 2021, this duo ushered in SB 202, a law that allows for unlimited voter challenges—of which we have already seen tens of thousands. And they stand idly by while the GOP attempts time and time again to seat vote suppressors and election deniers on county Boards of Elections. Now, trying to purge more than 191,000 additional voters from the rolls demonstrates, yet again, just how far Brad and Brian will go to make it harder for Georgians to cast a ballot. Voting is a right. If someone chooses not to use it, that doesn’t mean they lose it. The officials who oversee our elections—and I will remind everyone that they are elected by us—should be concerned with fully funding our elections administration, expanding access to the ballot box, and encouraging folks to participate in our democracy, rather than kicking them out of it.’
Voters who did not vote in the 2020 and 2022 general elections and have not updated their voter records during that time are at risk of being purged from the rolls. NGPAF encourages all Georgia voters who may be at risk of being purged to check their mail for a notice from the Secretary of State’s office and take immediate action to stay on the rolls.
‘This is a huge number of voters who may get kicked off the rolls because they missed a piece of paper in their mailbox,’ says NGPAF Policy Director, Stephanie Jackson Ali. ‘NGPAF is working with our partners to make sure we can contact these voters to help them understand what’s at stake and what they need to do to stay on the voter rolls. Unlike those currently in power in our state government, grassroots organizations like NGPAF are committed to expanding our democracy—not shrinking it.’
A healthy democracy requires fairness and transparency—two qualities lacking in Georgia’s electoral systems as of late. With crucial federal elections fast approaching in 2024, it is imperative that every eligible Georgian have access to the ballot and the information necessary to exercise their political power. While NGPAF will continue to work to ensure this access, it is, in fact, the responsibility of our elected leaders and our state government to uphold and strengthen our democracy. We demand better.”
###
