As early as three weeks before the US presidential election, chaos reigns in some places.
The accusation is loud that it could be intentional.
On November 3rd, the USA will elect * a new President *.
Whether postal voting * or "early in person voting" - in some states, people can vote for Donald Trump * or Joe Biden * in advance.
US elections 2020 *: everything you need to know about the US presidential election *.
Suwanee - In the
US state of Georgia
the
presidential elections
started
on Monday morning
.
Votes can already be cast at the polling station three weeks before the actual election date on November 3, 2020 *.
At least in theory.
For many
voters in the US
, voting on Monday morning turned out to be a test of patience.
US media and news agencies reported numerous technical problems with so-called "early-in-person" voting.
In a number of counties, including Fulton County.
The polling station there is located in the “State Farm Arena”, outside the corona pandemic * home ground of the
NBA team Atlanta Hawks
.
At times, however, the system of electronically transmitted electoral books collapsed.
Talked to several voters who had been there since 7 and were still waiting as 11 am approached.
They were told check-in was being "glitchy."
Gwinnett spox said there was “intermittent issue with network access ... that slowed processing down” https://t.co/VZ7XN1X1dS
- tyler, the reporter (@ByTylerEstep) October 12, 2020
Elections in the USA: Long line in front of the polling station in Georgia
The voters in Suwanee, located in Gwinnett County in Georgia, were apparently hit particularly hard.
Tyler Estep reports from the small town of 20,000 souls for the local daily newspaper "Atlanta Journal Constitution".
Estep shared a 70-second video
on
on Monday lunchtime local time.
You can see a never-ending line in front of the polling station.
In the tweet, Espen wrote that the people in the queue had told him around 11 am that they had been "there since 7 am".
Assuming that Espen drove around 30 km / h while filming, the line should be one kilometer long.
Elections in the US: Commentators doubt democracy
The video went viral within a short period of time.
After just three hours, it was played over 800,000 times - and commented a hundred times.
Many speak of a “shame”; others, such as CNN reporter Jim Sciutto, pay their respects to the brave voters who wait in line.
Others
even
deny the
USA
the
status of a democracy
.
"If it takes more than five hours to cast your vote, one thing is clear: your country doesn't want you to vote."
Whether and what the country now wants is unknown.
The accusation that certain forces in the
USA
have no interest in getting as many people as possible to
cast
their
votes in elections
, but instead prefer to suppress entire groups of voters *, is anything but new.
Especially in Georgia.
In 2018, Republican
Brian Kemp ran there
in the gubernatorial election against Democrat
Stacey Abrams
.
Abrams, later a highly regarded candidate for the post of Vice President under Joe Biden *, was considered a promising candidate for the Democrats *, with a real chance of winning in the otherwise Republican-dominated state.
Kemp was at the time Secretary of State ("secretary of state") of the state of Georgia under the then Republican Governor
Nathan Deal
, who did not run again due to a term limit.
In his office, Kemp was therefore responsible for the election in which he had run and which he won just before Abrams.
GEORGIA: Today is the first day of in-person Early Voting and we want to hear from you!
Share your voting experience with us at https://t.co/XZU1O8QTdK.
More info on voting (for all states): https://t.co/XYLW8Buumc.
#gapol pic.twitter.com/glp0LXSheX
- Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) October 12, 2020
Repression of the electorate is an old Republican strategy
Shortly afterwards, allegations
of electoral suppression
against Kemp and the Republicans were raised.
Especially in areas inhabited by Afro-American populations, polling stations are said to have been closed and the queues in front of those that are still open are said to have been closed.
At the same time, hundreds of voting machines are said to have remained idle in warehouses, allegedly out of fear that they could be manipulated.
According to a report in the New York Times, Kemp's office removed a total of 1.4 million names from the
electoral roll
.
Thousands of ballot papers are said to have been withheld because her name was not exactly the same as the one on her passport - even if only a hyphen was missing.
In both cases, it was mainly black voters who were affected.
In 2019, the
Democratic-dominated Congress launched
an investigation into allegations of voter suppression in Georgia.
Kemp and his party friends have since denied any intent.
A year later, the Atlanta Journal Constitution started a study on possible voter suppression in Georgia.
The result was clear: up to 85,000 voters were prevented from casting their votes due to the lack of organization.
Kemp beat Abrams by around 55,000 votes.
Black voters were 20 times more at risk of not being able to cast their vote due to external circumstances than white voters.
While Kemp and his colleagues in Washington deny it, the strategy of keeping voter turnout as low as possible is one with a long
tradition in the Republican Party
- shamelessly, openly and honestly summarized once by
Paul Weyrich
.
The “spiritual father of modern conservatism” (John Oliver) and co-founder of Republican think tanks like the “Heritage Foundation” and the “Moral Majority” said the following words at an event held by religious fundamentalists in Dallas in 1980: “I don't want everyone to vote goes.
[...] In fact, our influence in elections increases when the turnout decreases. ”
Donald Trump
and his supporters must have understood their thought leader.
(By Daniel Dillmann)