My daughter moved from Brooklyn, NY to Atlanta, GA three years ago. She arrived in the fall and searched for ways to become a part of her new community….her new life.
Nothing really seemed to connect until election day that spring. It was a typical June day in Georgia. The heat was almost oppressive….the sun was beating down and she called me from her voting poll to say the lines were extremely long…..hours to be exact and she and her then fiancé wanted to do something to help those struggling during their wait in lime.
Now keep in mind, this was June 2020.
That was a big primary election. Voters on both sides wanted to be heard so were willing to wait as long as it took to cast their votes. It was early on in the pandemic, so voters who were showing up in person, did so because having their vote count mattered.
My daughter and her fiancé decided to go and buy a couple of cases of water and crackers to take back to the polls to hand out to those who in need of quenching their thirst in the hot Atlanta heat. I thought it was a great idea. Harmless and helpful.
In fact here in PA I had volunteered outside my polling place handing out fresh ink pens to those who showed to up to vote so there would no sharing of pens. It was the height of the pandemic. I was glad they wanted to get involved.
But now in Georgia that same act of kindness could be punishable by law with a $1000 fine or jail time.
I learned recently of another county that had 7 polling places in the past that is being reduced to 1. Depending on where one lives, whether you have a car, eliminating the majority of the polling places has the direct possibility of eliminating the chance to vote for some.
As a news reporter I always had to get up early on Election Day to get to the polls before my assigned news story because I couldn’t guarantee that I would be done with work before the polls closed. I had that luxury, but everyone doesn’t.
I get frustrated when I hear people say some of the laws being proposed in 19 different states only secure the voting process, because that is NOT true. It is much more than that.
It’s more than voter ID laws, or some of the more simplistic explanations.
I believe in voting rights for everyone. Period.
Everyone who wants to vote deserves the right to be able to vote and any effort to stop them is wrong…..just plain wrong.