Issue Position: Voting Rights

Issue Position

Georgia's track record of voter suppression and poor election security is a disgrace. Over the past four years, tens of thousands of eligible voters have been removed from the rolls statewide. In 2018 Gwinnett County was ground zero for voting irregularities, with polling station wait times topping four hours and the rejection of thousands of absentee ballots. Meanwhile, our Secretary of State continues to refuse to recognize or address the voting system security vulnerabilities that have been identified by leading experts in the field.

As an African American woman, I have family members who have historically faced disenfranchisement from voting; I feel voting rights represent the essence of democracy. Voters deserve to be confident that they will not experience roadblocks at the polls and that their votes will be counted accurately and fairly. That's why I am committed to strengthening our voter protections while working to make voting easier for everyone choosing to exercise this most sacred constitutional right.

The risk to our voting rights will be compounded by the redistricting that will follow the 2020 census. The state legislature will be tasked with redrawing political districts based on updated population counts. Often the majority party manipulates this process by creating new maps meant to preserve their power, enabling elected officials to choose their voters and reducing their accountability due to the uncompetitive nature of stacked districts. Furthermore, gerrymandering often has the effect of diffusing the voting power of communities of color. As your next senator, I pledge to support legislation that would create an independent, nonpartisan redistricting commission that would end partisan gerrymandering and put the power of this critical component of democracy back into the hands of our citizens.

Source