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‘Voter Suppression’ Trends As Voters In Georgia Struggle With Long Lines And Equipment Issues

<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">It’s going to be a long day for voters in Georgia following reports of multiple issues at the polls&comma; but officials and celebrities including Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms&comma; are encouraging people to stay in line&period; <&sol;span><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Voter suppression was trending on social media today due to reports of long lines and malfunctioning equipment in Georgia during the state’s primary election&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;If you are in line&comma; PLEASE do not allow your vote to be suppressed&comma;” Bottoms tweeted&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;PLEASE stay in line&period; They should offer you a provisional ballot if the machines are not working&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">According to the <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;ajc&period;com&sol;news&sol;state--regional-govt--politics&sol;polls-open-and-voters-line-for-georgia-primary&sol;RDkUA0eKfnge6xuWT3YwiJ&sol;">Atlanta Journal-Constitution<&sol;a>&comma; this afternoon Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he has launched an investigation of problems in Fulton and DeKalb counties&period; He called the situation in those counties &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;unacceptable&period;”<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;My office has opened an investigation to determine what these counties need to do to resolve these issues before November’s election&comma;” Raffensperger said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Obviously&comma; the first time a new voting system is used there is going to be a learning curve&comma; and voting in a pandemic only increased these difficulties&comma; but every other county faced these same issues and were significantly better prepared to respond so that voters had every opportunity to vote&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Some local officials are painting the finger at Raffensperger however&comma; believing these issues are his responsibility to fix&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;It&&num;8217&semi;s astounding to me what an abdication of leadership that is&comma; to push the ownership down to the counties&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said DeKalb commission’s presiding officer&comma; Steve Bradshaw&period; &&num;8220&semi;I was raised that if you mess up&comma; fess up&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Some voters reported standing in line for two hours-plus just to cast a ballot&period; <&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">There were also viral videos on social media of voters complaining about the machines not working&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Roommates&comma; if you’re experiencing issues at the polls in Georgia or any instance of voter suppression&comma; you’re urged to call the Election Protection hotline at &lpar;866&rpar; &&num;8211&semi; OUR-VOTE to report problems&period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;">Want updates directly in your text inbox&quest; Hit us up at 917-722-8057 or<&sol;span><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;my&period;community&period;com&sol;theshaderoom"><span style&equals;"font-weight&colon; 400&semi;"> click here to join&excl;<&sol;span><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine; <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-wrap wpra-plugin-container" style&equals;"justify-content&colon; center&semi;&semi;"> <div class&equals;"wpra-reactions-container" data-ver&equals;"1&period;3&period;10" data-post&lowbar;id&equals;"61318" data-show&lowbar;count&equals;"true" data-enable&lowbar;share&equals;"onclick" data-behavior&equals;"regular" data-animation&equals;"true" data-share&lowbar;url&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;dev&period;theshaderoom&period;com&sol;suppression-trends-as-s-in-georgia-struggle-with-long-lines-and-equipment-issues&sol;" data-secure&equals;"270d31e518"> <div class&equals;"wpra-call-to-action" style&equals;"color&colon; 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Christina Calloway

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