Stacey Abrams celebrates Georgia’s ‘extraordinary’ early black voter turnout despite previous anger

Stacey Abrams on Thursday defended her claim that Georgia‘s election reform law was ‘Jim Crow 2.0’, despite voters turning out to the polls in her state in record numbers.

Abrams, who is running for governor of the state, was a fierce critic of SB 202 – the Election Integrity Act of 2021 – which was signed into law by her Republican rival, Governor Brian Kemp, in March 2021.

Yet, contrary to her dire warnings, Georgia has seen the highest levels of early voting in history.

Abrams told MSNBC on Thursday night that her warnings remained valid – and voters were showing up despite the new law.

‘Let’s be clear, they are participating despite the impediments of SB 202,’ she said.

‘Despite the racially-charged voter challenges authorized by SB202.

‘Despite the barriers to using absentee ballots, which black voters used in abundance in 2018 and ’21. Until the time was truncated and the process made more come complicated.’

Stacey Abrams, hoping to be elected as governor of Georgia, has repeatedly called last year’s election reform law ‘Jim Crow 2.0’. Record numbers of people are voting in her state, however. Abrams on Thursday said that they were voting despite the ‘barriers’

Georgians are taking advantage of early voting in record numbers this year

Abrams said black voters are crossing ‘barriers’ to cast ballots ‘because they know how vital this election is.’

She admitted the turnout was remarkable – even among those people she said would be hardest-hit by the election reform.

On October 26, Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state, confirmed that over a million people had already cast their ballots in his state.

Georgia has had record early voting turnout since the first day of polling this year – with nearly twice the number being recorded as on the first day of early voting in 2018.

‘Georgia voters are giving their county election directors a tremendous blessing by taking advantage of the unprecedented variety of Early Voting options available to all Georgians,’ said Raffensperger. ‘Reducing the burden on the counties is crucial for a safe, secure, and accessible election.’

Abrams agreed it was remarkable.

‘The numbers are extraordinary,’ she said. ‘We have seen black men participate at 91.8 percent of their 2020 general election turnout.

‘We have seen black women participate at 90 percent. These are the two highest concentrations of voters.’

Early voters line up to cast their ballots on October 29 in DeKalb County

Citizens cast their votes for the November midterm elections at early voting locations in Fulton County, Atlanta, Georgia, this week

Abrams has long argued that the law would disenfranchise voters by, among other things, making it optional for polling stations to open on Sundays, and decreeing that drop boxes will only be accessible during early voting days and hours instead of 24/7.

‘Now more than ever, we need federal action to protect voting rights as we continue to fight against these blatantly unconstitutional efforts that are nothing less than Jim Crow 2.0,’ she tweeted on March 25, 2021.

Her words were echoed by Joe Biden, who in January told a rally in Atlanta: ‘Their endgame? To turn the will of the voters into a mere suggestion — something states can respect or ignore.’

He added: ‘Jim Crow 2.0 is about two insidious things: voter suppression and election subversion.

‘It’s no longer about who gets to vote; it’s about making it harder to vote.

‘It’s about who gets to count the vote and whether your vote counts at all.

‘It’s not hyperbole; this is a fact.’

Last week the White House defended Biden’s comments – argued that high voter turn out and voter suppression can happen at the same time.

‘High turnout and voter suppression can take place at the same time,’ said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was asked about the record turn out of early voters in Georgia, a state President Joe Biden claimed had a ‘Jim Crow’-style voting law: ‘High turnout and voter suppression can take place at the same time,’ she said

Young people pass a voting information sign on the Emory University campus in Atlanta, Georgia

In 2022, at least seven states enacted 10 laws that make voting more difficult – of these, five laws in five states are in place for the midterms, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.  

‘The president has been very clear that based on The Big Lie, there have been a host of anti voter policies for some states that challenge Americans fundamental right to vote,’ Jean-Pierre said. 

‘This is against our most basic values.

‘Of course, high turnout and voter suppression can take place at the same time,’ she added. 

‘One doesn’t have to happen on its own. It can happen at the same time.’

She declined to get into more specific details, citing the Hatch Act, a federal law forbidding federal employees from engaging in political activity on the job. 

Republicans have seized on the Georgia numbers as vindication for their 2021 rewrite of state election law.

The turnout is record-setting, said Tate Mitchell, a spokesperson for the Kemp campaign, ‘while Stacey Abrams continues to spread the myth of voter suppression.’

Abrams pushes back against that taunt, even as she, too, celebrates the high early turnout.

‘More people in the water does not mean there are fewer sharks,’ said Abrams last week.