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Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp has taken down an ad from his office’s site that was criticized for seeming to discourage African Americans from early voting.
The ad was originally created ahead of the 2016 election in an effort to educate voters about how early voting is done.
The minute-long clip features children in place of adults lined up at a polling location to participate in early voting. The lone African American child in the ad fails to bring proper identification as required by Georgia law and is therefore made to cast a provisional ballots.
Provisional ballots are better than not voting at all, but how and when they are counted makes provisional ballots an unattractive option to say the least. The optics on the campaigned ad were worsened by the fact that Kemp has been under fire recently for knocking thousands of people off of the voting rolls in Georgia and it just so happens that the vast majority of those people are African American.
Additionally, some argue that the “exact match” criteria that gets people kicked off the rolls in the first place is less about protecting against voter fraud and more about disenfranchising Black voters.
READ MORE: Black women are galvanizing the vote in the booth and on the ballot in the midterm elections
After the 2016 election, Kemp’s office boasted that the ad (in conjunction with three other ads) actually helped boost minority participation.
“Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, the Secretary of State’s office created a series of educational videos to enhance minority participation. It worked. Minority participation is up 23 percent in Georgia. Attacks on this educational initiative are sad and politically motivated,” boasted the office in a statement.
Some have called for Kemp’s resignation in the wake of the voter roll purge and his self-interest in executing policy that helps his gubernatorial campaign.
Wow. So on the SOS website #BrianKemp has an advance voting video. Take a look at who gets to vote and who doesn’t. Nice messaging, Kemp. Please just #resign already. #gapol #gagov #TeamAbrams pic.twitter.com/D4gmMeb4Cw
— Anjali Enjeti (@anjalienjeti) October 18, 2018
Kemp’s opponent, Stacey Abrams, would be the first Black female governor if elected. The two are in a tight race that is being closely watched.
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