Dear MoveOn member,
VOTER SUPPRESSION RED ALERT: 53,000 Georgia voters—80% people of color—have just had their voter registrations blocked by Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp.1
Kemp is running against Stacey Abrams for governor, and the polls say they are locked in a statistical dead heat.2 So now Kemp is flat-out trying to get an edge in the election, using voter suppression tactics.
Civil rights groups have filed a lawsuit to restore these voters' eligibility, but we can't count on the courts to fix this before the November election.3 So Stacey's campaign is scrambling to expand their voter turnout efforts to make sure the election can't be stolen from her.
Will you rush an emergency donation of $3 to Stacey's campaign to help make sure all of her supporters are able to vote?
Yes, I'll donate now. (100% of your donation will go directly to the Stacey Abrams campaign.)
Stacey is running one of the most exciting campaigns in the country.
She'd be the first elected Black woman governor in U.S. history. She's running as an unapologetic progressive, and she's inspiring tens of thousands of people to vote for the first time.
But the fundamental integrity of the election is being thrown into question, because Kemp refuses to step down or recuse himself from his role as secretary of state running the election in which he's a candidate.
Kemp has closed polling places in heavily Democratic areas.4 He purged nearly 600,000 voter registrations in 2017 alone—that's 1 in 10 Georgia voters. In some cases, people were kicked off the rolls simply because they failed to vote in a single election. Many weren't even notified and won't find out until they show up to vote on Election Day.5
Now Kemp is going even further, with a blatantly unconstitutional program called "exact match," in which 53,000 voter registrations have been put on hold because the information on their voter registration card doesn't exactly match what's on file for driver's licenses or other state records. If there's any discrepancy—such as a dropped hyphen or middle initial in your name—you're out.6
Rachel Maddow is calling this a "flashing red light" voter suppression emergency.7 Will you rush an emergency donation of $3 to Stacey's campaign to help fight back?
Yes, I'll donate to Stacey Abrams' campaign!
Before the right-wing takeover of the Supreme Court, we might have had some confidence that the courts might step in and prevent voter suppression like this. But now there's a very real chance Brett Kavanaugh and the Supreme Court will let Kemp get away with it.
Stacey has a long history of fighting for voting rights, including starting an organization that's been registering Georgians for years. And her campaign has a three-step plan to fight back and win, regardless of what the courts say:
- She's encouraging people to vote early by mail or in person. Early voting makes sure that long lines or a last-minute emergency won't keep voters from the polls.
- Stacey and the Georgia Democrats have set up a Voter Protection Hotline to help voters who have lost their registration know their rights, which include provisional voting. The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day.
- She's calling on Kemp to step aside as secretary of state to allow a nonpartisan neutral party to take over.
Stacey is campaigning her guts out in every corner of the state, while Republicans are ruthlessly trying to steal the election from her any way they can. We need to have Stacey's back. Will you chip in $3 to her campaign to help out?
Yes, I'll chip in to Stacey Abrams' campaign.
Thanks for all you do.
–Senator Kamala Harris
Sources:
1. "Kemp Sued Over Georgia's 'Exact Match' Voter Registration Scheme," Talking Points Memo, October 11, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/52973?t=17&akid=218410%2E10220574%2ElKCyO_
2. "Poll: Republican Kemp and Democrat Abrams statistically tied in Georgia governor race," The Hill, October 12, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/52974?t=19&akid=218410%2E10220574%2ElKCyO_
3. "Civil rights groups sue Georgia Republican Brian Kemp over 53,000 'pending' voter registrations," CNN, October 12, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/53001?t=21&akid=218410%2E10220574%2ElKCyO_
4. "Polling Places in Black Communities Continue to Close Ahead of November Elections," Governing, September 5, 2018
http://act.moveon.org/go/52975?t=23&akid=218410%2E10220574%2ElKCyO_
5. "Georgia Republican Brian Kemp reportedly helped purge '1 in 10' of the state's voters from the rolls," Mic, October 9, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/52976?t=25&akid=218410%2E10220574%2ElKCyO_
6. "Kemp Sued Over Georgia's 'Exact Match' Voter Registration Scheme," Talking Points Memo, October 11, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/52973?t=27&akid=218410%2E10220574%2ElKCyO_
https://act.moveon.org/go/52978?t=29&akid=218410%2E10220574%2ElKCyO_
Here is what Michael Moore has to say about MoveOn: "MoveOn is working around the clock to help organize and turn out volunteers to get out the vote in November. I know that MoveOn members like you are moving heaven and earth to win this election. We're the majority. But we need to rise up. That's the only way out of this mess." Will you chip in $3 a week to help win this election? (MoveOn will contact you shortly after Election Day to see if you want to modify or cancel your donation.)
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a weekly donation.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON
This email was sent to Eddie Alfaro on October 13, 2018. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment