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Stacey Abrams has shared her own personal experience facing issues while attempting to cast a ballot in Georgia for the 2018 midterm election in which she ran for governor.
The Democratic gubernatorial nominee told NPR’s “Morning Edition” host Steve Inskeep this week that a poll worker incorrectly told her she had requested an absentee ballot when she went to vote in person. Abrams was ultimately able to vote.
“The day I voted, I had to correct the poll worker who said I had applied for an absentee ballot,” she said. “It took a few minutes for be to able to cast my ballot because of the problems with the polling place.”
Abrams said that the poll worker had documentation indicating she had already voted.
“I had to explain to her, ‘This is not correct, I have never applied for an absentee ballot,’” Abrams said. “She had to get a manager, and they had to fix it.”
Abrams, a graduate of Yale Law School, added that she went through the ordeal “quietly” but noted it was “emblematic” of the privilege she has being someone who is knowledgeable about voting laws.
“I know the law, others do not,” she said. “For us to have a fair fight in Georgia, we have to ensure that no one runs the risk of being denied the right to vote.”
Abrams, who ended her bid in Georgia’s governor race on Friday, told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes earlier this week that the Georgia election was “not a free and fair election” citing allegations of voter suppression in the state.
The Democrat’s opponent, Brian Kemp, has faced criticism throughout his campaign for his dual role as candidate and election overseer.
Kemp, who resigned as Georgia’s secretary of state after the Nov. 6 election, faced accusations of voter suppression throughout his campaign.
The Associated Press reported in October that Kemp’s office put 53,000 voter registrations on hold — with nearly 70 percent of the registrations belonging to black people.
Kemp, who has denied allegations his office used voter suppression tactics, had also apparently faced issues voting on Election Day.
Although he was able to vote, he was initially turned away because his voter card was incorrectly deemed “invalid,” his office said.
Abrams has since announced the launch of Fair Fight Georgia, an operation aimed at tackling voter suppression and ensuring election integrity in the state.
The organization will file a lawsuit against Georgia for the “gross mismanagement” of the midterm election, she announced on Twitter.
Earlier in her interview with NPR, Abrams pointed to other voting obstacles and examples of systemic disenfranchisement in Georgia, including long voting lines, broken machines and voter roll purges.
“The totality of the issues demonstrates that there has been gross mismanagement of our elections,” she said “I’m not suggesting that I know I would have won, but I am saying that the results were unalterably made less safe and secure because of the actions taken by the secretary of the state.”
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