Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke asserted there needs to be a new Voting Rights Act to ensure voter suppression does not occur. O’Rourke claimed there was voting suppression during Georgia’s gubernatorial election in 2018.
The former Texas congressman was asked about the issue from a Georgia man during a campaign stop.
“You know Brian Kemp was … did some very shady sh-t, basically and, you know, a lot of minorities, me included, who sent in an absentee ballot, my vote was not counted at the last midterm elections so what can you do about that?” the man asked.
“Because of what you just described we have functionally disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of our fellow Americans but for what you just described Stacey Abrams would be the governor of the state of Georgia right now,” O’Rourke said.
“So we see this in every part of United States,” he continued. “Texas, until this last midterm election, ranked fiftieth in voter turnout. Not because we love our democracy less than you do here in Massachusetts, but because we were drawn that way. Not by accident, but by design. Based on your race and your ethnicity.”
Abrams, who lost to Republican Brian Kemp, maintains she “won” the election because of the high voter turnout. Abrams has not officially conceded to Kemp, who she lost to by about 54,000 votes, because of what she says was voter suppression.
“This speech is not a concession, because concession means to acknowledge an action is right, true, or proper,” she said. “As a woman of conscience and faith, I cannot concede that. But, my assessment is the law currently allows no further viable remedy.
