Kareemah Hanifa just registered to vote for the first time in her life. As a juvenile, Hanifa, now 48, was sentenced to life in prison and spent 26 years incarcerated before she was released on parole in 2019. “I’m feeling nervous, I’m also feeling anxious and a little bit scared,” Hanifa said just before she […]
Voting
Posted inCapital B Atlanta, Politics & Policy, Rural Issues, State Politics, Voting
Amid Threats, Black Farmer Seeks to Flip Seat Once Held by Marjorie Taylor Greene
The standard uniform for most candidates running for public office consists of suits and loafers — maybe a blazer and some jeans. But Shawn Harris — the Black cattle farmer vying to replace former MAGA champion Marjorie Taylor Greene in Georgia’s U.S. Congressional District 14 — says he regularly wears a bulletproof vest on the […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Voting
Voter Engagement Groups Stepping Up as New Georgia Project Shuts Down
The recently announced shuttering of the New Georgia Project — which has mobilized hundreds of thousands of voters across the state since former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams founded the group in 2013 — was disappointing, but not surprising to Black Voters Matter co-founder Cliff Albright. “We’ve known for some time that they’ve been headed in […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Voting
Election 2025: What to Know Before You Head to the Polls
Voters head to the polls tomorrow for an election cycle that will decide the next mayor of Atlanta, four seats on Atlanta’s Board of Education, and two seats on the state’s impactful Public Service Commission. This fall’s contests will also decide all 15 seats on the Atlanta City Council, the next City Council president, and […]
Posted inElections, Local Politics, News, Voting
Judge Fines Fulton Commission $10K a Day for Blocking MAGA Election Picks
The Fulton County Board of Commissioners has been ordered to pay $10,000 per day until its members vote to approve the appointment of a pair of controversial Republican nominees to the county’s board of Registration and Elections. Superior Court Judge David Emerson issued his ruling Wednesday afternoon following a contentious morning hearing in which attorneys […]
Posted inState Politics, Voting
Mass Registration Cancellation Puts Black Georgians’ Voting Rights at Risk
Alfreda Monroe hasn’t been inspired to vote for anyone since 2008, when Barack Obama ran for president the first time. But she doesn’t think choosing not to vote justifies having her voter registration canceled. The retired grandmother of six, who lives with her husband in Hinesville, was one of an estimated 478,000 inactive voters due […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Black Georgians Overrepresented in Mass Voter Registration Purge, Fair Fight Says
One of the largest mass voter registration cancellations in U.S. history may be disproportionately impacting Black Georgians who could be eligible to vote, according to a new analysis by Fair Fight, one of the state’s most prominent voting rights advocacy groups. On July 10, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office sent cancellation mailers to […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
AUC Students Fear Being Disenfranchised by Massive Voter Registration Purge
Clark Atlanta University student Gabrielle Willis said she wasn’t surprised in late March when she learned of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office plans to cancel 455,000 “inactive” voter registrations later this year, but the news did concern her. “We face a lot going back and forth here at the AUC,” Willis told Capital B […]
Posted inCity Politics, Elections, Local Politics, Voting
Atlanta City Council Post 3 At-Large Race Headed to Runoff
The race to fill Atlanta City Council’s post-3 at-large vacancy is headed to a runoff election between civil rights attorney Eshé Collins and business owner Nicole Evans Jones. Community activist Duvwon Robinson, Black Futurists Group founder Devin Barrington-Ward, and business owner Amber Higgins-Connor were also vying to fill the remainder of former council member Keisha […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Voting
Fani Willis Reelected as Fulton County District Attorney
One year after Fani Willis catapulted herself into national headlines by filing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump, Fulton County voters have reelected her as their district attorney. Willis became the first woman to serve as Fulton County district attorney when she was elected to her first term in 2020, unseating longtime incumbent Paul […]