Democratic leader Stacey Abrams said on Sunday that efforts by lawmakers from the Georgia Republican Party to place restrictions on electoral laws were “racist”.
When asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper in “State of the Union” if Abrams agreed with the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, in calling his attempts “racist”, she said “absolutely”.
“He called this Georgia Republican effort ‘racist, pure and simple,'” said Tapper.
“I totally agree that you are racist,” said Abrams. “It’s a Jim Crow redux, in a suit and tie.”
Republican lawmakers in Georgia recently introduced a series of bills that would impose new restrictions that include absentee voting and an end to early voting on Sundays, a day when black voters often go to the polls as part of the “Souls to the Polls” election campaigns. , as John Dorman of Insider previously reported.
The proposed bills follow the Democratic victories in Georgia, with President Joe Biden’s victory – the first since 1992 – over former President Donald Trump and Sens. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won the second round of 2021, giving Democrats control in the Senate.
“Rather than celebrating better access and more participation, their response is trying to eliminate access to voting mainly for communities of color,” said Abrams, who is credited with being a key player in turning Georgia purple, said in the State of the Union. “And there is a direct correlation between the use of deposit boxes, the use of early voting in person, especially on Sundays, and the use of postal voting and the direct increase in the number of colored people voting.”
—State of the Union (@CNNSotu) March 14, 2021
Last month, Abrams’ voting rights group, Fair Fight Action, wrote to Republican lawmakers about the proposals stating how they could have “devastating consequences” in the state vote.
When asked at NBC’s “Meet the press“On Sunday, if she ran for governor of Georgia in 2022, Abrams said her” focus is on ensuring that we have elections in 2022 “, adding that Republicans are” trying to ensure that people of color and young people cannot participate fully in the our democracy, which is the least patriotic thing I can imagine right now. “
“I am focusing on our democracy and will make other decisions after we finish this job,” said Abrams.