Peach Tree Times

A political science professor at Kentucky State University recently noted that the midterm elections in Georgia saw record turnout of Black voters, despite allegations of voter suppression leading up to election day.

Turnout for the Georgia midterm elections was 52.7%, higher than the national average of 46.9%, Outkick reported. Georgia's passage of the Election Integrity Act in 2021 prompted accusations of voter suppression targeting Black people, with President Joe Biden calling the bill "Jim Crow 2.0." The legislation made some changes to existing voting laws, including enhancing ID requirements for absentee voting and regulating drop boxes.

Despite claims of voter suppression against minorities, Georgia Secretary of State voter data indicated that 33.1% of the total number of ballots accepted were submitted by minority voters of Black, Hispanic and Asian demographics. There were 2,537,210 ballots accepted, with 839,032 of those being minority ballots. Black Georgians cast 741,528 ballots, accounting for 29.2% of all accepted ballots in the state.

"Consider this for a minute: a Georgia Senate race between two strong Black men, which saw record Black voter turnout, has been regularly described as 'Jim Crow,'" Wilfred Reilly, a political science professor at Kentucky State University, said in a recent Twitter post.

Days before the election, Stacey Abrams claimed in an interview with MSNBC that she would win the state's gubernatorial race if voters could "navigate" the supposed voter suppression systems set up by her opponent, Republican Gov. Brian Kemp; FOX News reported. Despite record early voting turnout, Abrams accused Kemp of trying to "game the system" in order to stay in office. She accused both Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of working "to not only game the system, but to suppress voting in the state of Georgia."

Abrams had also accused Kemp of engaging in voter suppression in 2018 when he defeated her in the gubernatorial race, which she refused to concede.