In a close election, even a single vote has the potential to swing the results in one direction or another. In Georgia, hundreds of thousands of voters will have their voices silenced next month as part of a massive Republican rigging effort that gets worse by the day.
According to investigative journalist Greg Palast, who appeared on MSNBC’s AM Joy on Saturday, Brian Kemp – Georgia secretary of state and Republican nominee for governor – purged more than 500,000 voter registrations in Georgia, claiming these residents either moved or passed away.
But after analyzing the half a million purged voter registrations, Palast found that a stunning 340,134 of them did not move or die – they simply got removed from the voter rolls without any notice.
While these individuals may get to cast a provisional ballot on Nov. 6, the investigative journalist reminded us that it will be Kemp who is responsible for counting them.
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“You’ll think you have voted,” Palast said. “You’re going to have a massive number of provisional ballots and Brian Kemp is the guy as secretary of state who gets to count those ballots.”
Video:
Investigative journalist Greg Palast tells #amjoy about the massive vote rigging scheme going on in Georgia. #ctl #p2 pic.twitter.com/5Rx7jh0Jas
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) October 20, 2018
Investigative journalist Greg Palast explained on Saturday:
Yesterday, I sued Brian Kemp in a federal court. The reason is, I looked at the data, on the threat of a federal suit, he gave me his voter files. I looked through them. They canceled 550,000 voter registrations in Georgia. That’s Brian Kemp, he’s running for governor, he cancels half a million people off the voter rolls. And the reason is, they left the state, a few died, 19,000. But I had computer experts, the best people in the nation, who check people’s addresses. The guys hunting you down to make your pay your bills or send you catalogs. They went through name by name. Kemp didn’t realize I was going to do this. They went through name by name, 340,134 Georgians did not move from their registration addresses. They got removed. They’ve been given no notice, Joy, no notice that they’ve been removed. … Are you ready for this? Brian Kemp. They’ll be given provisional ballots. … In this case, you still won’t be able to vote. You’ll think you have voted. You’re going to have a massive number of provisional ballots and Brian Kemp is the guy as secretary of state who gets to count those ballots.
Kemp’s suppression effort just got Trump’s blessing
In the midst of this transparent effort to suppress the vote in Georgia, Trump gave a glowing endorsement of Brian Kemp, the man who is both overseeing and running in the state’s race for governor against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams.
Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp will be a great governor. He has been successful at whatever he has done, and has prepared for this very difficult and complex job for many years. He has my Strong Endorsement. His opponent is totally unqualified. Would destroy a great state!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 20, 2018
What Kemp has been very “successful” at is conducting an election in Georgia that has the potential to limit hundreds of thousands of citizens that may vote for his opponent.
As PoliticusUSA’s Jason Easley noted on Friday, another analysis found that over 100,000 voters in Georgia were purged from the rolls in a single day in 2017.
It remains to be seen whether these efforts will be successful in flipping elections, but all across the country – from Georgia to Texas to North Dakota and beyond – Republicans are working their tails off to rig the vote.
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Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
