Once Again, Georgia Is a Voter Suppression Hotspot

Here’s how Nsé Ufot and the New Georgia Project are fighting the state GOPs’ latest attempt to suppress Black and Brown voters

Andrea González-Ramírez
GEN

--

Photo illustration: Julia Moburg/Medium. Source: Getty Images

Following Democrats’ stunning victories in Georgia in November and again in the January U.S. Senate runoffs, the Peach State has once again become ground zero for Republican voter suppression efforts. The latest iteration of their fight to shrink the vote is House Bill 531, which passed Monday in the Republican-controlled Georgia House of Representatives. The legislation adds new restrictions to in-person and absentee voting, including adding new ID requirements and limiting the early voting period that was so crucial to Democrats’ recent successes. The bill now heads to the GOP-controlled Georgia Senate, where an identical measure was introduced last month. If it passes there, it’ll be sent to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp. He has not endorsed the legislation but said he would support an effort “to further secure the vote.”

Nsé Ufot has been fighting efforts like this to suppress Democratic and, in particular, minority voter turnout since 2014, when she became CEO of the New Georgia Project, a nonpartisan organization focused on registering Georgians to vote and helping them be engaged in the civic process. The group was…

--

--

Andrea González-Ramírez
GEN
Writer for

Award-winning Puerto Rican journalist. Senior Writer at New York Magazine’s The Cut. Formerly GEN, Refinery29, and more. Read my work: https://www.thecut.com/