VOTING RIGHTS ACT:
Prior to 2013, nine states — mostly in the South — and 56 counties and towns in other states, were covered by what was known as Section 5 of the Act.
"Covered jurisdictions": Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Virginia, In addition, certain political subdivisions (usually counties) in four other states (Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, and North Carolina were covered. It also provided a procedure to terminate this coverage.
Under Section 5, any change with respect to voting in a covered jurisdiction -- or any political subunit within it -- cannot legally be enforced unless and until the jurisdiction first obtains the requisite determination by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia or makes a submission to the Attorney General. This requires proof that the proposed voting change does not deny or abridge the right to vote on account of race, color, or membership in a language minority group.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/26/us/supreme-court-ruling.html
As you can see, Georgia is the only state that enacted policy affecting every issue.
PARTY DEMOGRAPHICS
The share of women who identify with or lean to the Democratic Party has risen in recent years, to 54% in 2016 and 56% in 2017. The partisan breakdown of men is relatively unchanged over this period.
http://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/
the share of whites identifying as Democrats or leaning Democratic has edged upward (43% now, up from no more than 40% from 2009 to 2016). This growth is attributable to a slight increase in Democratic-leaning independents, rather than a rise in Democratic affiliation.
By contrast, African American voters remain overwhelmingly Democratic: 84% identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party. Just 8% of black voters identify in some way with the Republican Party.
By more than two-to-one (63% to 28%), Hispanic voters are more likely to affiliate with or lean toward the Democratic Party than the GOP. The overall balance of partisan orientation among Hispanics is little changed over the last decade.
Among Asian American registered voters: 65% identify with the Democratic Party or lean Democratic, compared with 27% who identify as or lean Republican.
Voters in urban counties have long aligned more with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party, and this Democratic advantage has grown over time. Today, twice as many urban voters identify as Democrats or lean Democratic (62%) as affiliate with the GOP or lean Republican.
GA specific:
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Abrams leveraged that trend in a dominating victory over former state Rep. Stacey Evans. She won with about 76 percent of the vote and carried all but six of Georgia’s 159 counties, helped by soaring Democratic turnout in vast stretches of the state.
And no county experienced a greater jump in Democratic voter participation between 2010 and 2018 than Gwinnett, a fast-diversifying suburb that’s central to the party’s hopes of winning the Governor’s Mansion. (This is the county with disproportionate amount of tossed absentee ballots)
MACHINES:
https://www.wired.com/story/georgia-voting-machine-issues-heighten-scrutiny-brian-kemp/
THE KEMP CONSULTANT BEHIND POLLING LOCATION CLOSINGS:
Malone’s political motivations have also been called into question. In addition to the congressional midterms, Georgia voters will decide their next governor during November’s elections. Democrat Stacey Abrams is vying to become the first black female governor in U.S. history, and Randolph County — which is 61 black — went solidly for Democrat Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. Suppressing turnout in the county would heavily benefit Abrams’ Republican opponent, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, to whom Malone has contributed.
Malone also reportedly told residents that the idea of precinct consolidation came from Kemp himself, whose office recommended Malone to Randolph County officials in the first place. He has since recanted, telling local media that he never directly heard Kemp make such a recommendation.
Despite Malone’s termination, the county’s Board of Elections is still scheduled to vote on the proposal during a meeting on Friday. There’s little indication it will receive much — if any — support.
https://thinkprogress.org/georgia-consultant-fired-d28f1e283224/
https://medium.com/@jennycohn1/georgia-6-and-the-voting-machine-vendors-87278fdb0cdf
POLL CLOSINGS
Polling site breakdown 2016:
https://www.usatoday.com/pages/interactives/vanishingpollingplaces/
HANDWRITING EXPERTS How clerks are rejecting mail-in ballots:
POLICE TARGETING DRIVER HELPING ABRAMS VOTERS GET OUT:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/dispatch/are-police-targeting-get-out-the-vote-efforts-in-georgia
ABRAMS’ SUIT TO FIX THE SYSTEM:
IN GENERAL:
States that pay for elections:
https://ballotpedia.org/Voting_in_Georgia
SAMPLE OF THE PROCESS FOR A PRECINCT:
http://www.gpbnews.org/post/how-does-georgias-election-system-work
POLL TRAINING:
Each county (159 total) hires their own workers, this is Cobb county:
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