The clash in the Georgia governor's race reflects a bigger fight for the right to vote

ATLANTA – Reports signaling that tens of thousands of Georgia residents, mostly African Americans, have been placed on a list of candidates for in-depth examination broke into the Georgian governor's race , prompting lively exchanges between candidates and leaving many voters unsure of what to expect as a state began voting early Monday.

The turmoil around the vote seems almost an inevitable development in the race, which opposes two candidates opposed to the electoral war who have been fighting for elections for years.

Stacey Abrams, the Democrat, who hopes to be the first black female governor of the country, has forged her political profile through a group she founded that has registered over the last five years thousands of new voters from minorities. His opponent, Brian Kemp, Georgian Secretary of State since 2010, has put in place strict voting rules that he believes are necessary to fight against fraud, but that critics call a form of repression of voters specifically aimed at new voters that Mrs. Abrams brings to the polls.

Their race is the latest example of how controversial and far-reaching electoral issues have become a political issue in American politics, where previously largely non-partisan issues have been turned into weapons to gain advantage.

Ms. Abrams repeatedly called on Mr. Kemp on several occasions to resign from his position as senior election official in the state in order to avoid a conflict of interest. She accuses him of depriving minorities of their rights for years, including the most recent efforts of his office, by suspending the processing of 53,000 registrations, mostly African Americans. This is "the usual behavior in which he tries to tip the scales in his favor," Abrams said on NBC's "Meet the Press".

Kemp said Sunday at the Valdosta Daily Times that it was a "fabricated political story," invented by his opponent to increase Democrats' turnout. Everyone on the suspended list will be able to vote, he said. And he has also lodged a complaint against Mrs Abrams: she wants the votes of non-citizens to be taken into account. "She wants the illegals to vote in Georgia" he said on Fox News Monday.

Ms Abrams accused Mr Kemp of having intentionally taken into account the comments she had made.

As early votes began Monday, Abrams began a weeklong tour of churches and schools in Georgia by bus, with the subject of repressing the vote on the agenda in a few days. minutes.

A state law passed in 2017 at the request of Mr. Kemp requires an "exact match" between an elector's registration form and his government documents. A missing hyphen, or a difference between a married name and a maiden name, results in the suspension of a registration.

Most of the blocked entries were voters registered by the New Georgia Project, Ms. Abrams' group, which has been working for years to improve minority registration.

Despite their expectation, the 53,000 electors on standby will be able to vote this year with an identity photo consistent with their registration, said Michael McDonald, Electoral Law Expert at the University of Florida, expert witness in a lawsuit . on the issue of exact match registration.

But Ms. Abrams said that only uncertainty could prevent many new voters from running on polling day, especially low-income constituents in rural areas who do not follow the issue closely.

"They are receiving a confusing letter saying that there is something wrong with their registration," she said Sunday. "And more than likely, they will stay out of this election. The miasm of fear created by the repression of voters is as much about terrifying people who try to vote as blocking their ability to do so.

Mr. McDonald added that, in the absence of another successful lawsuit, the 53,000 on the list will have to prove that they are legally registered to vote in 2019 and for the race to the presidency of 2020.

Experts say that any obstacle to voting can be enough to deter someone from voting.

Michelle Dehaven, a veterinarian based in Smyrna, Georgia, said she learned during the summer that she was temporarily removed from the voters list when she went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to replace a driver's license. lost. She was told that she was no longer registered to vote.

"I never thought it would be a problem," she said. When she called the Secretary of State's office to fix the problem, she replied that the person who answered said, "I do not know, I can not help you."

Eventually, county election officers helped her return to the electoral rolls. "I really had to make a fuss," said Dehaven. "I am educated and I am very well versed in this field. But it was just shocking.

The race in Georgia highlights the national transformation of the post of secretary of state since the controversial 2000 election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Once a non-controversial, non-controversial work focused on the administration of election laws in a non-partisan manner, secretaries of state have become politicized in many places.

This year, two of the most militant Republican state secretaries run for governorship: Mr. Kemp of Georgia, and Kris Kobach of Kansas, who was the face of President Trump's commission. searched in vain for evidence of widespread election fraud in the 2016 election.

Both are in statistically related races, according to polls. If the November 6 vote was so tight in either country that a recount was necessary (or, in Georgia, a second round if no one won a majority), the candidates would be in conflict of interest in determining the winner.

The question is not academic. Mr. Kobach woke up in the morning after his Republican primary in August, leading only 121 votes to his opponent, outgoing governor Jeff Colyer.

At first, Mr. Kobach refused to recuse himself, as the state's election official, from a possible recount, arguing that the counting would be done by the local authorities. Finally, under pressure, he entrusted his tasks to a high deputy. There was no recount, Mr. Kobach's advance was 345 and Mr. Colyer conceded.

More important than any role possible in the tight election arbitration, MM. Kemp and Kobach have for years restricted the number of people eligible to vote, in a way that, according to the critics, is intended to help Republicans by suppressing the vote of minorities, the poor and students – lean groups Democrats.

Mr. Kobach was the author of a Kansas law requiring proof of citizenship to be able to register in order to vote. Before being annulled in June by a federal court, the law prevented 31,000 Kansans from registering.

Although repeated studies have refuted Kobach's claims that waves of "illegal aliens" have voted, he has not toned down his speech, which plays well with the party's base.

The battle over the electoral rules peaked in 2016 when federal courts overturned or limited some of the most restrictive voting laws in North Carolina, Wisconsin, Texas and elsewhere. But Republican supporters of the restrictions have since been more successful in cases before an increasingly conservative federal judiciary.

In North Dakota, for example, a federal court refused to uphold the law of a state requiring voters to post their identity cards with an address. This seemingly common requirement is for Native Americans, whose culture discourages fixed addresses.

At the same time, several states have taken steps in recent years to facilitate voting. Thirteen states have approved voter registration laws, including four this year. Voters from Utah will be able to register for the first time on election day in November, and Washington has approved a law on voting rights and pre-registration of states of 16 and 17 years.

In Georgia, Mr. Kemp has overseen the massive cancellation of 1.4 million registrations since 2012. Although federal law requires updating voter lists by deleting dead or displaced people, critics assert that aggressive purges have resulted in the unfair removal of many eligible voters. A A study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that purge rates were significantly higher in states that had a history of racial discrimination and that had been released from federal control under a 2013 decision rendered by the Supreme Court in terms of voting rights.