The 2024 elections are less than a year away. It’s time that we stop complaining about how Republican lawmakers have pushed new voting restrictions, making it harder to cast ballots early to increase the frequency of voter roll purge. We know that the Republican party is trying to suppress the vote of Black and Brown communities by introducing such measures in the name of “election integrity,” even though there was no evidence of voter fraud in the past election.
We know this, and we know why! We don’t need to spend our time sitting around wringing our hands and crying, “Woe is me.” We must not give up and give in by not going to the polls claiming that “my vote doesn’t count anyway.”
If your vote didn’t count, do you think the Republican party would spend this much effort trying to suppress it?
With an understanding that all politics are local, we contend that we counter their efforts with action.
Locally, the mid-term elections will be about garnering respect as the majority demographic in Muscogee County. If you are Black or Brown living in Muscogee County, you need to know these numbers like you know your blood pressure, your cholesterol, your PSA, your A1C, and your telephone number.
There are 206, 922 people living in Muscogee County. 49% are Black, 37% are White and 8% are Hispanic. That means 57% of this community are people of color! We are the majority demographic!
In the last election, 38,150 Black and Brown people went to the polls and voted, and 35,868 White people went to the polls. There are 67,786 registered Black and Brown voters in Muscogee County, and there are only 55,089 registered White voters. What do these numbers mean? They mean, that we, the Black and Brown community, have the power to elect people who have our best interest at heart despite what the Republicans try to do to suppress our vote.
In the last election for the District 7 School Board seat, only 292 people voted. District 7 has over 14,000 registered voters.
Pat Frey won with 147 votes. Laketha Ashe garnered 145 votes. Two votes decided who would represent the citizens of District 7.
Your vote counts!
By The Editorial Board