Stacey Abrams calls Republican voter restriction efforts ‘Jim Crow in a suit’
'I do absolutely agree that it’s racist,' said Stacey Abrams
Stacey Abrams criticized Republicans’ efforts to restrict voter rights in Georgia as “racist” and “a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie.”
Abrams was vital in helping Georgia Democratic Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock during the Senate runoff elections in January, giving Democrats control of the Senate.
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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that 40 Republican-sponsored election bills were written to address voting fraud and security concerns after President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump. Biden was the first Democrat to win the state in 28 years.
The Georgia bill SB241 includes measures to end voting by mail unless the voter has a valid excuse. It would also remove drop boxes and introduce new identification requirements, according to The Guardian.
During an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union, Abrams agreed with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer when he said that the efforts to introduce new restrictions are “racist.”
“Well, first of all, I do absolutely agree that it’s racist. It is a redux of Jim Crow in a suit and tie. We know that the only thing that precipitated these changes, it’s not that there was the question of security,” Abrams said.
“In fact, the secretary of state and the governor went to great pains to assure America that Georgia’s elections were secure. And so the only connection that we can find is that more people of color voted, and it changed the outcome of elections in a direction that Republicans do not like,” she continued.
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Abrams says the restrictions are intended to greatly impact Black communities, the Black church’s traditional “Soul to the Polls” initiative, and other communities of color.
“And so, instead of celebrating better access and more participation, their response is to try to eliminate access to voting for primary communities of color. And there’s a direct correlation between the usage of drop boxes, the usage of in-person early voting, especially on Sundays, and the use of vote by mail and a direct increase in the number of people of color voting,” Abrams said.
John Kavanagh, Arizona State Legislature, recently told CNN Republicans are more “concerned about fraud” than Democrats.
“There’s a fundamental difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats value as many people as possible voting, and they’re willing to risk fraud. Republicans are more concerned about fraud, so we don’t mind putting security measures in that won’t let everybody vote – but everybody shouldn’t be voting,” he said.
Abrams responded that she’s “fundamentally disappointed” in Kavanagh’s remarks.
“Our system of government demands active participation from citizens to direct the future of our nation and we should be deeply disappointed in anyone – in American citizen, certainly someone who took the oath of office – who seeks to restrict access to the right to vote and uses this false predicate of fraud, which we have seen disproven,” Abrams said.
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