Georgia’s first day of voting saw record numbers of voters, disproving many lies about voter reform.
All of it was said to have been the worst thing for Georgia’s voting rights. After being “wrongfully” elected, Governor Brian Kemp joined other states in pushing for, and then passing, a voter integrity bill that would address many policies created by the pandemic as well as expand the number of ways early voting could be done. As we all witnessed, the furor was persistent and loud.
Many members of the media joined the fray by voicing outrage at the deprivation of voting rights, especially for minorities. This spread to Democrats all the way to President Biden. Many people invoked the term “Jim Crow,” to describe the allegedly racist aspects of the law. Biden decided to increase the hysteria and declared the law to have been “Jim Eagle.”
Stacey Abrams was the Democrat poster-gal of election fraud, squealing loudly about the law. She blasted the law as illegal and racist, along with all other allegations. She was so outraged that she took the law to court to stop its enforcement, only to have her case dismissed by a judge.
The news is that Georgians set a new record for midterm election turnout on the first day. They actually exceeded the turnout for the second day in 2020 general election voting on Tuesday, the 2nd. This isn’t an anomaly, either. The state saw record turnout in the summer’s primary. All the protracted yelling and claims of racial intolerant have been exposed to be what we knew since the beginning – a complete lie.
Next comes the important follow-up question: What cost?
The most well-known corporate reaction was when Major League Baseball’s commissioner bought into the hype and moved the All-Star Game to Denver, a lily-white metropolis. The move was at the cost of $100 million for local businesses, many of which were black-owned entities that had lost vital post-pandemic revenue to support black causes.
Stacey Abrams was slammed for her words suggesting that boycotts were necessary. Fair Fight Action, her activist group, advocated for Georgian boycotts. Abrams took her words literally after the game was pulled. After outrage from her state over the loss of commerce, USA Today allowed an editorial that had been published to be edited. That was just one part of the money flight.
Joe Biden joined the call for companies to leave the state. Biden, inspired by the MLB’s move, declared that more businesses should consider moving to Georgia.
It is encouraging to see for-profit businesses and organizations speaking out against the Jim Crow laws, which are antithetical to our values. People who make hourly wages and those who most need assistance are often the ones who suffer most when they move out of Georgia. This is why Georgia and other states need to be smarter. Stop it!
Georgia has seen a boom in entertainment productions over the past few years. Many productions that were slated or planned to be moved away because of the “racist election law” was reacted strongly by the usually leftist-activist sector. Will Smith was instrumental in moving a film shoot from the state to protest the passage of the law. To generate more opposition, the Director’s Guild joined the outrage.
Businesses located in the state faced boycotts as well as intrastate economic activity. Many people believed that silence from corporate names was a sign of support. They were therefore named as boycott targets. This resulted in citizens, business owners, employees, and others being affected by legislation that they did not create or pass. People wanted to impose economic sanctions on Georgians.
It was all a lie. The Washington Post rated Abrams as untruthful about the restrictions that the law was supposed to enforce. Even the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had to correct the initial claims about the bill. The damage is done. But the damage is done. The lies about Georgia’s law were not just biased and pernicious. They were also widespread and continued to motivate economic reprisals against the state that were not justified.
The law that increased voter access and ease has resulted in a rise in the number of citizens voting at home or going to the polls. But how long did this remain stigmatized? How much hardship was unnecessarily imposed upon the citizens? These lies should be remembered and pointed out as often as possible.
