The Muscogee County Democratic Committee held a viewing party for a documentary about the allegations of voter suppression from the 2018 gubernatorial election in Georgia which led to a lawsuit.

The film examines our region and explores the various ways the vote was suppressed in rural Georgia and in metro Atlanta.

Many folks in the audience worked or volunteered on the democratic ticket and experienced the voter suppression.

“After living it last year and learning more about it through groups like Fair Fight, that it is part of a strategy, its not just random accidents, that things are done on purpose to decrease the number of votes that democratic voters have tallied,” says Laura Walker, Chairman of the Muscogee County Democratic Committee.

The film showcased many disenfranchised voters that couldn’t vote because their names were dropped from the rolls for an apostrophe or a dash and people who had to stand in line for hours when there weren’t enough voting machines. The film also highlights the proposal to shut down several precincts in Randolph County.

“Some counties only had one early voting place for miles and miles and miles of range, people could not get there. So there was not equal access to vote. It is our right to vote. And we had so many wonderful candidates to vote for but we did not have opportunities. And that was all throughout Georgia. We have to make it better,” says Patricia Lassiter, field director for the Teresa Tomlinson U.S. Senate campaign.

After the movie, Walker held a discussion about the events and how they are working to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

Former Secretary of State Brian Kemp was sued for suppressing minority votes after an Associated Press investigation revealed his office didn’t approve about 53,000 voter registrations – most of them filed by African-Americans.

Federal and state courts have overturned some laws that require extra identification that require time and missing work in some states, including Georgia, North Carolina, and North Dakota, citing the harmful effects on minority voters.