He's calling for an investigation into what the counties did wrong. He's blaming the counties the counties are blaming him. STEVE OSUNSAMI (ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT): No question, this was a disaster, and a lot of anger this morning is being directed at the secretary of state. Abrams has campaigned against voter suppression tactics after her narrow defeat in a race that she said featured a “deliberate and intentional disinvestment” in crucial election infrastructure such as polling places and worker training.Ĭo-host Gayle King noted that Abrams had already been scheduled to appear in order to promote her new book - but the new circumstances proved fortuitous, as Abrams could deliver an in-depth perspective. In addition, the report quoted Black voters who spoke of their belief about “systematic disenfranchisement,” and CBS News correspondent Ed O’Keefe noted that “Georgia has a history of voter suppression.”ĬBS This Morning featured an interview with Stacey Abrams, head of the voting rights group Fair Fight and previously the Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia in 2018. “On my side of town, we brought stadium chairs.” CBS News did the best jobĬBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell gave the story a minute-and-a-half-long segment among Tuesday’s headlines, showing long lines and “inexperienced volunteers” dealing with technical problems. “I come over to this side of town, and white folks are strolling in,” Brown told the site. LaTosha Brown, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, told the site that it took her nephew six hours to vote on Friday - and then on Monday, she saw no line in an Atlanta suburb. Politico also reported on what seemed like a clear difference between the situation in urban, minority areas, and the much smoother time that people in the suburbs had even just during the early voting period. CNN reported that some areas would have “ ‘mega polling sites’ with more than 10,000 voters assigned to the site.” (Indeed, shortages of precinct workers - many of whom tend to be senior citizens - as a result of the pandemic is emerging as a serious national problem.) The ongoing coronavirus pandemic presented another serious problem, with diminished staffing and fewer voting sites. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted that the secretary of state’s office had “dispatched tech support contractors across the state, but they were overwhelmed by calls when precincts opened at 7 a.m.” While the issues may have been most prominent in the Atlanta area, problems were not confined there, either, with local TV stations in both Columbus and Savannah reporting technical difficulties in those places. Meanwhile, Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is blaming local officials in the Atlanta area, while Democratic DeKalb County executive Michael Thurmond is blaming Raffensperger over both the machines’ reliability and the worker training that was needed. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that trouble setting up new voting machines contributed to the long lines, with poll workers unable to get them up and running. Afterwards, it was smooth sailing,’ he said, estimating that he was ‘out the door’ in 20 minutes after the problem was resolved.” “‘There were problems with the voting systems for approximately 25 minutes. Jason Esteves, chair of the Atlanta Board of Education, tweeted photos of the extremely long line for him to vote, and complained that his absentee ballot had never arrived, declaring, “This is how voter suppression happens.”īy contrast, NBC News reported that things went much easier in the mostly white Atlanta suburb of Roswell: “Brian Takahashi voted there and said ‘it went well.’ NBC also covered it reasonably well - obtaining what might be the single most memorable image of the story - but ABC missed crucial points.įormer Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed tweeted that it took him nearly three hours to vote. CBS, NBC, and ABC all aired segments on the Georgia voting mess, with CBS providing the most complete picture.
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