Stacey Abrams, Leader in the Fight Against Voter Suppression

(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- In 2018 the former state representative lost a tight Georgia gubernatorial election tainted by charges of voter suppression. Quashing speculation that she might run for U.S. Senate or president, she started Fair Fight 2020 in August to ensure that voting rolls are accurate, absentee ballots are counted properly, and polling places stay open through their posted hours. The organization is spending about $5 million, largely in Midwestern and Southern battleground states, with particular focus this year on gubernatorial contests in Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi. (The latter remained Republican, while voters in Kentucky and Louisiana went for Democrats.) Abrams told Boston's WBUR, “My job is to make sure democracy works.”

Fair Fight 2020 grew out of Fair Fight Action, the organization she co-founded shortly after her election loss. It filed a lawsuit alleging that minority voters had been intentionally disenfranchised—Abrams's opponent, Brian Kemp, was at the time secretary of state and in charge of Georgia's voter rolls—and that voting in the state needs to once again be supervised by the U.S. Department of Justice. (Until the U.S. Supreme Court struck down parts of the Voting Rights Act as unconstitutional in 2013, nine states with a history of voter suppression, including Georgia, needed department approval before changing voter registration rules.) The suit is set for trial next year.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Bret Begun at bbegun@bloomberg.net, Jeremy Keehn

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