Donations spotlight: Fair Fight Action works for fair elections in Georgia and around the country

Note from the CREDO Mobile team: This June, Fair Fight Action is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from CREDO Mobile will support Fair Fight Action, which was founded by Stacy Abrams, in its campaign to educate voters about elections and their voting rights, encourage voter participation in elections and ensure fair elections in Georgia around the U.S.

 Read this important blog post about Fair Fight Action’s critical work, then visit CREDODonations.com and cast your vote to help send funding to the group to assist its efforts—and the efforts of our other outstanding June grantees.

Almost four years ago, Georgia voters shocked the nation and the world, enduring harsh, even ruthless conditions to turn out in historic numbers. Ever since, far-right extremists have worked to remove members of Georgia’s multiracial, multigenerational coalition from the voter rolls via mass voter challenges.

These challenges are part of a coordinated effort to target voters who pose a threat to entrenched interests. Their intended consequence is to shrink the electorate and, by extension, decide who gets a say in the future of our democracy. The people behind the challenges use race-neutral, racially targeted language to mask their true intention, which is to hold onto their power as it is eroded by the shifting population of Georgia. According to the 2020 Census, Georgia was 51.9% white in 2020. Given that the population of people of color in Georgia is growing at a faster rate than the population of white Georgians, it is likely that white Georgians now make up less than 50% of the state’s population.

SB 189: Georgia’s latest voter-suppression law

In May, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed yet another voter-purge bill, SB 189. It’s a law aimed at mass disenfranchisement that will especially impact Black, Brown, rural, senior and unhoused voters across the state. The new law, which goes into effect in July, could affect thousands of Georgians by:

• Removing computer-readable QR codes from ballots. The cost of doing this could reach $300 million and will put more strain on already underfunded and overworked county boards of elections.
• Placing an extreme burden on election administrators by imposing rapid, unrealistic ballot-processing turnaround mandates.
• Opening more pathways for vigilantes to kick voters off the rolls via mass challenges.
• Implementing confusing, vague and disenfranchising new rules for unhoused voters.

With SB 189, Gov. Kemp is building on his legacy as a vote-suppressor. He has now signed into law three election-administration bills that are inherently anti-voter. These efforts have marked his tenure in public service since he was the secretary of state. He has long been a willing participant in efforts to undermine our democracy, notwithstanding the praise he’s gotten for saying no to Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

Just two months after that election—and a month after the January 6 insurrection—Kemp drafted, pushed and signed SB 202, which handed anti-democracy vigilantes a free pass to work on purging voters they don’t like from the voter rolls. Make no mistake, this is an open attack on the Georgia voters who showed up in record numbers to cast a ballot in spite of a pandemic, long lines, and efforts to intimidate and influence their votes.

A chilling effect

According to findings by Fair Fight Action, thousands of Georgians will be impacted by the recent legislation, including 6,000 unhoused folks in Fulton County alone. Coupled with SB 202, SB 189 will have a deep chilling effect, with implications not just for this election but for all elections conducted in Georgia in the future.

Voter challengers have made their intentions clear: keep voting as far out of reach as possible, particularly for Black and Brown voters. In Forsyth County, Black voters represent 3.59% of registrants but make up 6.18% of challenged voters. In Cobb County, where 49% of registrants are voters of color, these voters were 61% of the voters challenged. In Dekalb County, young people ages 18-34 make up 30.08% of voters but comprised 39.43% of the voters challenged.

Here’s what Fair Fight Action is doing to fight back.

• We’re working to restore voters to the rolls.
• We’re fighting anti-voter legislation and laws that impact free and fair elections.
• We’re exposing vigilantes and their networks to raise awareness of their efforts.
• We’re recruiting and supporting election workers to ensure right-wing attacks don’t have their intended effect, which is to undermine election administration.

Still in the fight—and in it to win it

We’re still in the fight because of your support. Indeed, our work would be impossible without the backing of individuals and organizations who are willing to stand with us as we continue supporting Georgia voters and election workers.

Democracy is at grave risk without people who are committed to protecting it. The voter-challengers are relentless and will not stop. This is the case not only in Georgia but across the U.S., as far-right activists challenge voters around the country and try to remove them from the voter rolls. A majority of these activists are tied to national anti-voting networks.

The future of our nation is in the balance. And that’s why your support is so crucial. With your help, we will have the resources and tools we need to help Georgians—and all Americans—overcome barriers to voting and secure their freedom to vote once and for all.