Elaine's Campaign Needs Workers to Come to Brunswick to Help Black and Other Marginalized Voters Overcome Obstacles of New Voter ID Law

New Georgia Voter ID Law is Racist and Recalls the Jim Crow Poll Tax and Literacy Test

The last time photo ID was used as a test for citizenship was under Apartheid in South Africa

 

 

Friends of Elaine Brown for Mayor of Brunswick, Georgia

____________________________

2802 Altama Avenue, Suite B

Brunswick, Georgia 31520

 

912-262-9811 (Telephone)

912-262-9813 (Facsimile)

September 4, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

BLACK VOTERS’ RIGHTS WILL BE UNDERMINED

IN UPCOMING BRUNSWICK ELECTION

Mayoral Candidate Elaine Brown Calls for a “New Wave of Freedom Riders”

to Come to Brunswick, Georgia, to Monitor November Election

 

Elaine Brown, slated to become the first black and first woman mayor of Brunswick, Georgia, denounced the recent approval of Georgia’s new voting law by the U.S. Department of Justice.  Brown condemned the Republican-backed legislation, the so-called Voter ID law, as racist and biased against black voters, Latino voters, young voters, first-time voters, ex-felon voters, elderly voters, poor voters, disabled voters.  “The last time photo ID was a standard for citizenship was in South Africa under Apartheid,” Brown declared.  “Indeed, this Republican-backed ploy to intimidate and decimate the black vote recalls the poll tax, the grandfather clause and the literacy test under Jim Crow.”  Brown added she is putting out a call across the nation for a “new wave of Freedom Riders” to come to Brunswick to fight again for black voting rights in the South.

Only 60 Days Left for Brunswick Residents

            In light of the DOJ’s Eleventh-Hour decision, Brunswick’s majority-black electorate will have to scramble to accommodate the law’s demands in time for the November 8 election.  Called the most Draconian voting law in the nation, the new Voter ID law requires Brunswick voters to present government-issued, photographic identification in order to vote.  To obtain a Georgia ID card, a Brunswick voter must first pay for a certified copy of his or her birth certificate.  This places an unreasonable burden on voters in a city without public transportation.  For voters born outside the county or the state, it looms an impossible burden, to obtain a certified birth certificate by mail in time for the election—in about 60 days!

 

Double Jeopardy

            Adding insult to injury, the Republican-dominated Glynn County Board of Commissioners has suddenly called for a “special election” regarding special taxes, “SPLOST V.”  Forced to conduct two elections at the same time, the County Board of Elections has acknowledged its confusion over how to produce and process two distinct ballots.  For Brunswick voters, this confusion is only exacerbated by the fact that they must vote in two different elections at the same time and at two different polling places.—City and county precincts are not always at the same place.

Bastion of Bush Politicos

            The Voter ID law’s throwback to the Jim Crow era is particularly conspicuous in Brunswick, a majority-black city so disenfranchised that every elected representative is a white male Republican—except the nominal black on the County Commission, already pledged to support the Republican/Sea Island Company-backed candidate to succeed Mayor Brad Brown, a Lt. Col. in the Sons of Confederate Veterans.  Given the possible “loss” of this economically exploding port city to a progressive black woman, Elaine Brown stated, “the imposition of the ID law for the upcoming Brunswick race seems designed—Florida-like—to steal the election for Bush Republicans.”

Freedom Riders and Election Monitors

            This is why Brown said she is calling on GABEO, the NAACP, SCLC, the Nation of Islam, the Urban League, the Congressional Black Caucus, the National Action Network, the Truth-Hamer Voting Initiative, the ACLU, the Democratic Party, the Progressive Democrats, the League of Women Voters, the Green Party, the Hip-Hop Caucus, Rapper Diddy and his “Vote or Die” faction, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Georgia Coalition for a Peoples’ Agenda, the black clergy, black activists, educators, students, entertainers, sports figures, celebrities and all progressive people across the nation and around the world to stand up for the rights of black and other disenfranchised Brunswick voters.  “Come to Brunswick and help make sure our people can vote!” Brown urges.  “Come to Brunswick and help us monitor the elections!  Let all those who love freedom and democracy come to Brunswick!”

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