GA Primary Battle

Today was primary day in GA. The Republican led state legislature opted to replace all 30,000 voting machines in the state just prior to today’s election. There has never been a similar effort by any company to replace so many voting machines in such a short time. Add to that the number of resignations of voter poll workers due to concerns with the Covid 19 virus, and you have a perfect storm. All new equipment that no one knew how to work.

Many polling places did not even open because they could not get the machines turned on and ready to accept voters. No surprise that Dalton and DeKalb counties had the most problems. Of course, those are the two counties with the highest Black and Hispanic population. Many voters waited 3+ hours to cast their ballot.

Some of the National papers reported;

Politoco

A hot flaming mess; Georgia primary beset by chaos, long lines.

Washington Post

In Georgia, primary day snarled by long lines, problems with voting machines – a potential preview of November.

The Wall Street Journal

In a warning for November, voters endure long lines in Georgia’s primary election.

The New York times

“I refuse not to be heard”; Georgia in an uproar over voting machines.

We can’t afford to be complacent. Don’t focus on a single type of voter suppression, like voter ID, or limiting polling locations. I’m sure the Georgia legislature made it sound like a good thing that they were making voting better and easier when they replaced all voting machines. Except that doing it in the month before an election is bound to cause problems.

There is no limit to what the Republicans will do to limit minority voter access to polling places.