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 rights
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 […]
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 inElections
How to Keep Your Voter Registration Active Amidst Georgia’s Massive Purge
Voting rights advocates are urging Black Georgians to take appropriate steps this year to ensure they’re not impacted by mass voter registration cancellations and voter eligibility challenges. Nearly half a million people are due to have their Georgia voter registrations canceled no later than July, meaning they won’t be able to cast ballots in key […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Politics & Policy
How Formerly Incarcerated Georgians Are Reclaiming Their Voting Power
Denise Ruben is getting ready to vote in a presidential election for the first time in 16 years. Back then, in 2008, a young Illinois senator named Barack Obama was preparing to make history as America’s first Black president. This year, Kamala Harris — the first Black woman to serve as vice president — hopes to follow […]
Posted inPolitics & Policy, Voting
New Web Page Letting Users Cancel Their Voter Registration Raises Fraud Concerns
Some voting rights advocates fear a new web portal designed to allow former Georgians to easily cancel their Peach State voter registration could be used to fraudulently purge Black voters from the rolls. The new Voter Registration Cancellation web portal, which launched on Monday, requires users to input personal information such as their first and […]
Posted inVoting
Proposed Law Would End Voting Ban for Felony Convictions in Georgia
Voting rights and criminal justice reform advocates are rallying support behind a proposed state law aimed at eliminating a 147-year-old provision of the Georgia constitution that experts say was created to limit Black people’s access to the ballot box. The measure known as SB 179 and a companion resolution are the latest attempt by Georgia […]
Posted inVoting
Lawmakers Begin Redrawing Political Maps With More Majority Black Districts Today
Georgia lawmakers are set to start redrawing the state’s political maps today to create a number of new majority-Black voting districts in conjunction with an Oct. 26 federal district court ruling. But their efforts could eventually be undermined by a more-recent federal appeals court decision barring individual voters and other private parties — including groups […]
Posted inVoting
Why Voting Rights for People with Felony Convictions Matters
Kareemah Hanifa is an Atlanta-based community organizer and activist who helps people with felony convictions restore their voting rights. She leads the Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s No Taxation Without Representation campaign, fighting state laws that bar many Georgians with criminal records from casting ballots. But Hanifa was advocating for people behind bars decades before she […]