August 18, 2018

ACLU of Georgia (PDF):

To the Members of the Randolph County Board of Elections and Registration,
The ACLU of Georgia writes to express grave concern about your discriminatory
proposal to eliminate over 75% of polling places (7 out of 9) on the eve of the November
elections. These polling place closures will virtually guarantee lower voter turnout in a Black
Belt county that is predominantly African-American (60%), and will completely prevent rural
voters without transportation (again, disproportionately African-American) from voting in person on Election Day.

The timing of your proposal is also suspicious and calls to question your true motives
behind this proposal. These are the exact same polling places used in the primary and primary run-off earlier this year. It makes no sense to suddenly reduce the number of polling places for this November’s election, which will see far higher voter turnout than in the primaries or the primary run-off. Your proposal has also been plagued by procedural irregularities that cast further doubt about the real motivation behind these proposals.

Making it disproportionately harder for African American voters to cast a ballot—
especially when done so deliberately—is a violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 52
U.S.C. § 10301, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

We demand that you reject this proposal or you will face potential legal liability.

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