There is a common and unfair narrative that if we want to experience change in this country, The South is not the place to come or invest. However, we have a long legacy (and present) of Black Southern Women organizing. We have continued to organize and to build power in the face of white supremacy in the form of voter suppression and unfair racialized redistricting maps. Matter of fact because we were able to build power, specific legislation was passed throughout the South:
Georgia: GA SB 202– Georgia’s anti-voter bill attacks absentee voting, criminalizes Georgians who give a drink of water to their neighbors, allows the State to takeover county elections, and retaliates against the elected Secretary of State by replacing him with a State Board of Elections Chair chosen by the legislature—rather than the voters.
Florida: FL SB 90– S.B. makes it harder for voters to access secure ballot drop boxes, it requires voters to provide a state ID number or the last four digits of a social security number to obtain a mail ballot, providing no alternative if a voter has neither identification number. And it shortens the time period during which a voter can remain on the state’s vote-by-mail list (which entitles them to receive a mail ballot automatically).
Desantis signing bill to require police at the polls.
Tennessee: SB1510 (proposed) sought to abolish early voting. To add insult to injury, the bill sought to prohibit the use of voting machines and would have required elections to be conducted with watermarked paper ballots that are hand-marked by the voter.
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