Georgia Republicans purge Black Democrats from county election boards
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/georgia-republicans-purge-black-democrats-county-election-boards-2021-12-09/
Last year, Sunday voting was key to boosting the turnout of Black voters in Spalding County, Georgia. But this October, people protested the county's election board, upset that they disallowed early voting on Sundays for the Nov. 2 municipal election.
This year, an entirely different five-member board has overseen the election, and the Democratic majority of three Black women was gone, as well as the Black elections supervisor.
Now a faction of three white Republicans controlled the board and the Spalding board’s new chairman has endorsed former president Donald Trump’s false stolen-election claims on social media.
The Georgia restructurings are part of a national Republican effort to expand control over election administration in the wake of Trump’s false voter-fraud claims. Republican-led states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona have enacted new curbs on voter access this year.
Until 2013, Georgia elections operated under federal oversight to ensure fair participation for Black voters. Democrats say Republicans are trying to expand their control over nonpartisan functions.
Aaand so it begins...