One Person, No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy

by Carol Anderson

As the incident exploded over traditional and social media, the commissioners insisted that race had nothing to do with it. Rather, they claimed, the center was nonpartisan and “this was a prohibited political activity.”87 Yet, that rationale crumbled beneath the Jefferson County Leisure Center Facebook post that same day announcing an upcoming talk by a Republican running for reelection.88 The commissioners also stressed that they didn’t know who this “third party”—Black Voters Matter—was, despite the organization already having been vetted and approved by the center. Nonetheless, they remained “uncomfortable” with this group taking senior citizens off the center’s grounds. Atlanta-based music producer Isaac Hayes III scoffed at that: “These are grown adults that went to go vote.” But, the county commissioners “made them get off the bus like they were being kidnapped … That’s a textbook example of voter suppression itself.”