August 15, 2021 / Newsletter 237 |
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HELP US FIGHT JIM CROW 2.0!
Your donations help us in the fight for all eligible voters to be able to cast their votes & have them counted.
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9TH District Dem Leadership Meeting
When: Sat, Sept 11, 2021 2:00-4:00 pm
Where: Robinson Ballroom, Student Center, UNG-Gainesville Campus
3820 Mundy Mill Road, Oakwood, Ga 30566
CDC Guidelines will be followed. At the present time, mask are required indoors for the even for the vaccinated. We will monitor the situation and if things change we will notify everyone.
Click the image for details & a map.
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AAPI Atlanta Democrats Strategy Meeting · Democratic...
An opportunity to meet and strategize with DCCC Staff, Atlanta Stakeholders, and Volunteers to collaborate and discuss efforts to hold onto Democratic Power in Georgia. Discussions will involve how to center and include the AAPI Community in the...
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www.mobilize.us
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March On for Voting Rights - Join the March to make history
The March On for Voting Rights is a nonviolent, nonpartisan mass mobilization to demand that elected officials protect democracy, denounce voter suppression and ensure fair, easy access to the vote for all through the passage of comprehensive...
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marchonforvotingrights.org
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STATE ELECTIONS BOARD TO MEET AUGUST 18TH VIA ZOOM. USE THE LINK BELOW TO REGISTER TO ATTEND. |
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: State...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: State Election Board Meeting - 8/18/21. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
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sos-ga-gov.zoom.us
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Protect Georgia Voters from Voter Purge! ·
Help DPG reach out to voters on the Georgia Secretary of State's "purge list"!! Over 185,000 Georgia voters will be deleted from the list of registered voters if they don't take action. Our Voter Protection Team is ready, but they need your help!
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www.mobilize.us
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Support Black-Owned Businesses: 181 Places to Start Online
Check out our list of 181 Black-owned businesses to support.
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www.websiteplanet.com
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Weekly Thoughts from the Chair:
Here it comes
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Here it comes: Republican Gerrymandered districts
Republicans have chosen to lie, cheat and steal to keep political power. Republican leaders don’t care if their edicts and lies cause death to thousands – witness Republican Governors lying about masks while denying their citizens the right to protect themselves from the rampant Delta variant. Given the chance, Republicans will attempt to control every aspect of our lives, will dictate absurd responses to a national health crisis, and will perpetuate lies to incite their base and keep power.
The census now has Georgia with: 14 congressional districts of 765,136 residents each; 56 state Senate districts with 191,284 residents each, and 180 state House seats with 59,511 residents each. Congressional and state legislative districts will be drawn by the Republican-controlled state legislature. A simple majority in each chamber is all that is required. The Georgia Constitution requires that state legislative districts be contiguous, but not so for congressional districts.
Redistricting is now upon us. There are 22 Democrats and 34 Republicans in the State Senate; 77 Democrats and 103 Republicans in the State House. 137 Republicans to 99 Democrats. Republicans can and will construct districts to ensure continued Republican power and control while denying a fair and equal voice to non-Republican Georgians.
This summer, Republicans held 11 town hall meetings. We know what they heard. Everyone begged for fair districts. Republicans will ignore those pleas. By September 30, detailed census data for redistricting will be released. It will include counts by race, voting age and housing occupancy. In the fall, a special session will be held at the Capitol and Republicans will draw the new borders.
The Republicans will draw maps to increase their control. When Republicans are done, many voters and some current elected officials will end up assigned to new election districts. U.S. House districts represented by Carolyn Bourdeaux and Lucy McBath will be combined in a way to give Republicans an additional seat. Watch and see.
Gainesville Republican State Senator Butch Miller said: “The fact of the matter is, drawing the lines is a difficult task. You will not make everyone happy.” Butch lives in an alternate, Republican, universe. Republicans will be very happy because Butch and the other Republicans will ignore the pleas for “fairness” that even the Gainesville Times demanded. Only Non- Republicans will be unhappy.
Republicans want to stack the deck in their favor. Republicans suppress voting in many ways, including: Don’t count votes after Election Day; Destroy the mail system; Reduce voting places; Purge eligible voters; Manipulate the Census; Limit ballot collection boxes; Spread lies and make ridiculous claims about Democrats; Reduce the number of voting machines in Democrat precincts; Disregard the Hatch Act; and, Gerrymander voting districts so Democrats are compacted into a few districts. These Republicans are not the kinds of people that should be allowed to run our country.
So here it comes: Republican Gerrymandered districts. Evil prevails only when the good stand idly by. Don’t give the Republicans the chance to lie, cheat and steal elections. Put your shoes on, lace ‘em up, and let’s get to work to ensure that all qualified Georgians get to vote and that their votes count.
Mike
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Practical Advice from Curt Thompson |
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Democrats at our monthly meeting last Monday had the opportunity to hear some practical advice from Curt Thompson, former state senator from Gwinnett County. He emphasized how important it is to register voters and get out the vote, and to vote for those who support Democratic issues in local elections. Acknowledging that it will be a slow process to turn Hall County blue, he nonetheless had encouraging words for those who may need some motivation to do the work.
Thompson started with a bit of history about Gwinnett County, which, like Cobb, Douglas, and Forsyth, was a Republican stronghold not that long ago. That began to change when a diverse population started moving into the suburban county. Now, residents of Gwinnett include a large population of Asian Americans and Hispanics. Black, Latino, and AAIP voters had big increases in voter registration in the state between 2016 and 2020. Although white voters are still the largest group of registered voters in Georgia, the percentage of white voters has decreased from 63% in 2008 to 53% in 2020. Between 2012 and 2020, the number of active Hispanic and AAPI voters each tripled.
The 2020 census figures released this week indicate that these changes have continued and that diversity in populations is spreading farther out from cities into the suburbs and exurbs. Flowery Branch grew by 63.5% according to the 2020 census, making iit one of the fastest growing cities in the state. As a result of demographic changes, Thompson said, outreach to register voters and to get out the vote should be tailored to specific ethnic communities.
Thompson stressed the importance of setting realistic goals for moving the needle in Hall County. He said that increasing Democratic turnout in Hall by 2% in the 2022 elections could help re-elect Warnock to the Senate and elect a Democratic governor. The good news is, through the hard work of our party members, we have increased Democratic votes in Hall County from 22.74% in 2016 to 27.63% in 2020. Our goal is to continue that trajectory in 2022, aiming for at least 2% points increase.
To do that, we will need donations to cover the costs of translations and printing for literature and post cards, for mailing lists to identify voters likely to vote for Democrats, for the basic costs of running an office. We will also need lots of willing volunteers to help us register voters and get people to the polls.
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Georgia gets more urban and diverse as white residents dip
ATLANTA (AP) - Georgia is growing ever more urban and ever more diverse, Census figures released Thursday show, continuing a shift in population toward metro Atlanta and away from the rural areas that were once the backbone of the state.
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apnews.com
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Opinion: The Census shows the GOP base is shrinking...
Justin Gest writes that even though the latest US Census data reveals the diversification of America, which on the surface would suggest a bleak future for the Republican Party, demographic trends actually favor the GOP because of the way...
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www.cnn.com
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The Jolt: For the first time, Metro Atlanta is now...
This change will be a factor in Georgia's upcoming redistricting battles. The 29 counties in the Atlanta MSA were nearly 51 percent white in 2010. Now they're slightly less than 44 percent white, the new data showed. Almost 6.1 million people...
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www.ajc.com
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Black, Latino, Asian adults key to Georgia registered...
Following Joe Biden's narrow presidential win in Georgia, early voting is underway in the state's Jan. 5 runoff election for two U.S. Senate seats, races that will determine whether both chambers of Congress are led by Democrats during the first...
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www.pewresearch.org
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State & Local News (Some links may require a subscription)
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Former US attorney tells investigators he quit because...
Byung "BJay" Pak, a former US attorney in Atlanta who abruptly quit during then-President Donald Trump's mission to overturn the results of the election, stepped down earlier than planned because he caught wind Trump was considering firing him,...
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www.cnn.com
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Gary Black moves to outflank Herschel Walker in Georgia...
Gary Black is dashing to fill a void in the Georgia Senate race created by Herschel Walker, but Republican insiders are split on his viability versus Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock. The 63-year-old Georgia agriculture commissioner unveiled...
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news.yahoo.com
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Partisanship, Self-Interest Poised To Drive Georgia's...
When Georgia lawmakers convene this fall to draw new legislative boundaries, they will bring a political eye to the process, colored by partisanship and a distinct self-interest in the outcome. The once-a-decade redistricting cycle has profound...
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www.gpb.org
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Secrecy and protests surround Georgia medical marijuana...
Georgia medical marijuana patients say they're worried about the qualifications and experience of companies chosen to produce the drug, some of which were only recently founded. Protests of the marijuana licensing process could further delay...
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www.ajc.com
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Reporting Recipe: How To Be A Redistricting Watchdog
Later this year, Georgia's General Assembly will convene for a special session to redraw the boundaries of the state's legislative and congressional districts based on data from the 2020 census. While U.S. Census delays have pushed back the...
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www.gpb.org
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Home (Main)
Kolbey Gardner is an entrepreneur, community activist, organizer and democratic strategist, he has advised organizations and campaigns all over the country from Black Voters Matter, Political Director for Sarah Riggs Amico's campaign for Lt....
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kolbeyforgeorgia.wpcomstagi...
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National News (Some links may require a subscription)
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America is full of 'democracy deserts'. Wisconsin rivals ...
he United States is becoming a land filled with "democracy deserts", where gerrymandering and voting restrictions are making voters powerless to make change. And this round of redistricting could make things even worse. Since 2012, the Electoral...
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www.theguardian.com
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US Capitol riot judges step up as the conscience of...
A "disgrace to our country." "The tyranny we rejected." "An embarrassment to every American." Judges appointed by both parties are not holding back.
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edition.cnn.com
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America's Catastrophic Afghanistan Exit Has Many Fathers
Kandahar, one of the major Afghan cities that fell to the Taliban this week, is named after a man who once reportedly said that Afghanistan was "easy to march into, hard to march out of." His name was Alexander the Great.
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www.thedailybeast.com
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These Women Helped Incite the Capitol Riot. Now They...
Women for America First obtained the permit for the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally. Now they're raising cash for an Arizona-style "audit" in Georgia.
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www.vice.com
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New Testimony Reveals Trump Pressured The DOJ To Falsely ...
TERRY GROSS, HOST of FRESH AIR. interviews NY Times journalist Katie Benner, who says a division head at the DOJ secretly plotted with the President to oust the head of the agency and join his plan to subvert the results of the 2020 election.
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www.npr.org
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See How Vaccines Can Make the Difference in Delta...
The Delta variant, the highly transmissible version of the coronavirus that now makes up almost all new cases in the United States, continues to drive a surge throughout the country, with average new cases topping 100,000 for the past week. Some...
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www.nytimes.com
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