Georgia So Desperate to Suppress Black Vote That They Stopped a Busload of Seniors From Voting

Black seniors in Atlanta were ordered off a bus taking them to vote this week, after a county clerk “called the senior center raising concerns,” the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Tuesday.

The bus trip was organized by Black Voters Matter, a nonpartisan group doing voter outreach in communities across Georgia. As you can see in this video—posted by a ThinkProgress reporter who was traveling with the group—the event in question was cool as hell and anyone who wants to stop it is a monster. 

According to the Journal-Constitution, County Administrator Adam Brett said officials deemed the senior center activity “political” because the chair of the local Democratic Party helped organize the event. I’m sure a Republican would have helped organize it too, if they weren’t involved in actively preventing black Georgians from voting.

Last week, a coalition of advocacy groups sued Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp—who, interestingly enough, is currently running against Stacey Abrams, who would be the state’s first black governor—over the state’s “exact match” requirements, which mandate that a voter’s information must exactly match their Social Security and driver’s license records. If it doesn’t, their voting status is “suspended.” Residents can still vote if they’re “suspended,” but those voters are at risk of having their registration canceled at any time, and the Campaign Legal Center raised concerns that voters who vote by mail won’t be able to settle any disputes related to this status.

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