Dems want action on delayed voter registration applications as deadline looms

• Maggie Lee
• U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Atlanta, says it’s worth thinking about calling the feds if voter registration is not working smoothly.

High-profile Georgia Democrats are mad enough about a delay that they claim exists in voter registration processing that they’re getting ready to call their lawyers.

“I would consider, I think we should consider, if we do not receive the necessary action on the part of the secretary of state and others that we should contact the Department of Justice to intervene,” Congressman John Lewis said at a Monday press conference at the Gold Dome.

The Atlanta Democrat made the comment surrounded by activists; fellow Democratic Congressmen Hank Johnson of Atlanta and Sanford Bishop of southwest Georgia; Georgia House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta; and Columbus State University freshman Diamond Walton.

Walton was a registered voter at home in Fayetteville, then she moved.

“I registered to vote in August and it is now October and I have yet to receive my voter registration card for Columbus,” she said.

Now she Walton is not sure if her Muscogee County registration will be complete when early voting starts - that’s scheduled to begin on Oct. 13 in some counties - or by the general election on Nov. 4.

That problem is shared by at least 42,000 more would-be Georgia voters, Abrams said, wearing her hat as founder of The New Georgia Project, a nonprofit meant to increase voter registration and civic engagement. That’s how many people NGP said they had registered but could not find on Secretary of State Brian Kemp’s Sept. 26 voter roll.

“The Secretary of State is the chief election official for the state of Georgia,” she said. “It is his responsibility to ensure every applicant becomes a voter if they are a valid applicant.”

County election offices are in charge of voter registration, but the secretary of state oversees elections statewide. According to Kemp’s website, people should expect the county process to take three to four weeks. (We’ve called and e-mailed the Secretary of State’s office for comment and will update when we receive word.)

Abrams said NGP is already in contact with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and that they together are prepared to take legal action if they are not assured that every eligible applicant will be able to exercise the right to vote.

“The fundamental issue is there’s no do-over for elections,” Abrams said. “We don’t get to go back and say, ‘Oops, we’re sorry.’ If you miss it, you’re done.”

Meanwhile, today is the last day to register to vote for the November general election. Registration is available online.