Carter Calls for the Resignation of Kemp-Who Is Overseeing the Election He’s Running In

Original Article: https://www.npr.org/2018/10/29/661727605/jimmy-carter-calls-for-georgia-secretary-of-states-resignation-in-personal-plea

Brian Kemp, the Georgia Secretary of State, has received a lot of backlash due to continuing to oversee state elections, including the race for governor in which he is a candidate. In fact, Kemp purged tens of thousands of voters from the rolls, voters who are thought to most likely be Democrats who would not vote for the Republican Kemp. During his 8 year term, Georgia has seen an increase in removals from the voter rolls; he has also delayed many voter applications, almost 70% of which belonged to African Americans. Former Democratic governor of Georgia and president, Jimmy Carter wrote Kemp a personal letter asking him to resign from his duties as Secretary of State, citing his experience aiding in foreign elections.

I am in complete agreement with Carter. It is not democratic to have a candidate oversee the election he is running in, and purging voters from voter rolls, especially when the victims are mainly minorities, is voter suppression. Up until the Civil Rights movement, Black americans could not vote because of nearly impossible tests they had to take to get registered and other tactics, despite the 15th amendment guaranteeing their right to vote. In recent years, many states have been introducing new requirements for people to get registered to vote, targeting immigrants, low-income, and non-white people, erasing the progress we’ve made since the 1900s.