As Black voters face a new wave of attacks on their right to cast ballots, the legacy of U.S. Rep. John Lewis serves as a source of inspiration for community organizers who are fighting back. On July 17, the sixth anniversary of the civil rights icon’s passing, Women on the Rise led a group of […]
Voting Rights
From the state Capitol to the ballot box, decisions being made across Georgia are shaping Black political power and representation. Capital B Atlanta is following those changes and showing how they affect Black voters and communities across the state.
For more on voting rights across the country, explore our Voting Rights in America coverage.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Six Years Later, the FBI Is Still Investigating Georgia’s 2020 Election
It doesn’t seem to matter to FBI Director Kash Patel that there’s no credible evidence of Fulton County elected officials, employees, or volunteer poll workers tampering with the 2020 election results. Last week, the embattled Trump appointee reassigned 260 intelligence analysts from FBI field offices across the country to assist with the agency’s ongoing investigation. […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
Georgia Republicans Back Away From Redistricting Plan After Outcry
Efforts to begin redrawing Georgia’s voting district maps through a special session of the General Assembly have been canceled. The Republicans’ plan, which many feared would disenfranchise Black and brown voters, had already sparked multiple protests Wednesday at the Georgia State Capitol. “Changes to Georgia’s maps should take place only when members of the General […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, State Politics
Black Georgia Voters Could Lose Districts They Fought Decades For
For the first time in decades, Black Georgia voters won’t be able to rely on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act to protect them from redistricting efforts to dilute their political power. On June 17, Republicans could start redrawing voting maps at a special session called by Gov. Brian Kemp. In April, the U.S. […]
Posted inElections, Politics & Policy, Voting
Black Organizers Revive Freedom Summer Amid Voting Rights Fight
In the wake of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gutted Section 2 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, All Roads Lead to the South launched Freedom Summer 2026 to continue the legacy of the 1964 Mississippi voter activism campaign. Affirming the importance of Black civil rights and voter education, the multiracial coalition will […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Black Faith Leaders Warn Voting Rights Rollback Threatens Georgia
The Rev. Timothy McDonald was a 10-year-old fifth-grader at Perry Elementary School in Brunswick, Georgia, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act into law. Prior to its passage, election officials in the South routinely used blatant discriminatory practices like jelly bean counts and literacy tests to deny Black voters access to […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Voting
She Spent 26 Years in Prison, Now She’s Registering to Vote in Georgia
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 […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Fulton County Commissioner Says Black Votes Are Under Threat
Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett is sounding the alarm for Black voters in Georgia amid calls by President Donald Trump to nationalize elections. Barrett, who announced her run for secretary of state in January, sounded exasperated over the phone last Wednesday shortly after learning the FBI had raided Fulton County’s Election Hub and Operation Center […]
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, 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 […]
