As the 2024 election approaches, voting rights advocates are taking lessons from the 2020 election to protect voter rights in areas like Fulton County, Georgia, where former President Donald Trump has been charged with alleged attempts to overturn the results of the last presidential election became .
Trump and others have been charged under Georgia’s Racketeering Law (RICO) in connection with alleged attempts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results. These include, but are not limited to, the alleged conspiracy to cast false votes in the Electoral College and providing false information about voter fraud. Trump’s campaign team responded to the allegations by calling them “un-American” and “wrong”. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Proponents say the indictments signal progress in a state that has become central to the electoral campaign, but the fight to expand voting rights for its residents continues.
“This moment is important because it means that there is no place for this behavior in our democracy and that people are held accountable for their actions,” said Cianti Stewart-Reid, executive director of voting rights advocacy Fair Fight.
“You have the right to have your voice heard in every election and that is the work we will continue to do at Fair Fight,” she continued.
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Georgia was once a Republican stronghold in elections — in 2016, Trump won the state by more than 200,000 votes. However, Georgia has cemented itself as a swing state in recent years after the election of Democrats such as President Joe Biden and Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
“[Trump] “I really couldn’t believe Georgia flipped out,” Charles Bullock, a professor of political science at the University of Georgia, told ABC News. “What I’ve been told by Republican advisors is that they told Trump’s campaign team about it over the summer.” And Fall 2020: “Don’t just assume Georgia is interesting to Republicans” and “It’s a different state, which has become much more competitive.” And what they tell me is that their message didn’t get through.”
At the same time, Georgia has become the epicenter of the struggle for the right to vote, due to a grassroots movement calling for suffrage activists to oppose oppressive voting laws and a concerted effort to register and vote residents of color.
“Georgia has always been something of a power focus for American politics,” said Kendra Davenport Cotton, CEO of constituency New Georgia Project Action Fund.
A June 2020 Georgia primary was plagued with problems — long lines, labor shortages, late polling station openings and problems with voting machines — highlighting the long-standing troubles in the state.
For the 2020 presidential election, “we left no stone unturned,” Cotton said.
“We knocked on over 2 million doors. We were able to mobilize and get our groups out,” she added.
Several groups say they have helped register hundreds of thousands of Georgians to vote in recent years to combat voting practices they describe as oppressive.
Fair Fight founder Stacey Abrams is often credited with the 2020 Democratic electoral successes that made her a major voting rights figure. She ran twice unsuccessfully as the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia.
Georgia voted for current President Joe Biden. He won by nearly 12,000 votes.
Alex Brandon/AP, FILE
“It is no coincidence that after a multiracial, intergenerational coalition of voters and advocates came together to win the election in 2020, there was such incredible opposition and attack on efforts to expand ballot access,” said Stewart Reid.
Black, Hispanic, and Asian American voters have been key to registered voter growth in Georgia since 2016, according to the Pew Research Center.
According to the 2020 U.S. Census, Fulton County is 45% Black, 38% White, 8% Asian, and 7% Hispanic or Latino.
Looking ahead to 2024, Georgia is likely to be at the center of contention again as politicians struggle to win the votes of millions. With the passage and implementation of SB 202, a sweeping electoral law that overhauls local electoral laws, activists and pundits say all eyes are on the next election.
“Georgia voted for several Democrats – Joe Biden, Jon Ossoff and they voted for Raphael Warnock twice. Does that make Georgia a blue state? Absolutely not,” Bullock said.
As these suffrage battles continue on the ground, advocates say the indictment provides a greater sense of confidence to ensure voters are heard in elections.
“Ultimately, this is not just a story about Donald Trump. It’s about the people whose voice he was trying to subvert, the millions of Georgians who waited in long lines and went to the polls to cast their ballots and have their voices heard.” Stewart-Reid said.
