In what some saw as an observation of voting laws and others saw as voter repression, a bus full of black senior citizens were not allowed to go to the polls in Georgia on Oct. 15.
Jefferson County does not allow its county facilities to be used for political events, in order to remain non-partisan.
Black Voters Matter is a non-partisan organization, aimed at getting all African Americans active in the election process.
However, Jefferson County Democratic Party Chairwoman Diane Evans had helped organize the Black Voters Matter event at the senior center, which contravened county rules. A county clerk noticed this, and called County Administrator Adam Brett.
“Jefferson County administration felt uncomfortable with allowing senior center patrons to leave the facility in a bus with an unknown third party,” Brett said in a statement.
“No seniors at the Jefferson County senior center were denied their right to vote.”
“This is voter suppression, Southern style,” said Brown. “I’m very upset. I’m angry. I’m frustrated. I’ve got a lot of emotions right now.”
Ineffective Intimidation Tactic?
The seniors, who had been dancing around the parking lot before boarding the bus, enthusiastic about the opportunity to cast their ballot, were given the bad news and quietly complied.“We knew it was an intimidation tactic,” LaTosha Brown said on Oct. 16. “It was really unnecessary. These are grown people.”
Brown said that Black Voters Matter got permission from the senior center to have an event encouraging participation in the upcoming election. Brown said that the seniors had requested a bus ride to the polls after getting excited about voting.
Diane Evans, Chairwoman of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, said the event did not promote either candidate and was not expressly political beyond encouraging people to get involved in politics by voting.
Evans said she helped organize the event as a private citizen, a pastor, and a community leader, not as a Democratic Party official.
“It was discouraging that they weren’t able to vote,” Evans told the Journal-Constitution.
“When they’re suppressing votes, they’re going to come up with any kind of excuse about what your problem is.”
LaTosha Brown said that the senior center provided a van to carry the would-be voters to the polls, but after climbing aboard, they were asked to get off the van. The senior center staff decided it was too close to lunchtime, and that arrangements could be made for another day.
County Administrator Adam Brett told the Journal-Constitution that the senior center regularly arranges public transport to get the seniors to the polls.
If stopping the bus ride to the polls was an intimidation tactic, it certainly didn’t have the desired effect, LaTosha Brown told the Journal-Constitution.
“The seniors were so resolved. They said: ‘We’re going to vote. Nobody’s going to stop us,’” Brown said. “It wasn’t the first time someone has denied them or tried to prevent them from voting.”
Brown also told ThinkProgress, “At the end of the day, every senior that got off that bus, not only are they going to vote, but they’re going to get five to ten people to vote with them.”
