October 13, 2018

Teresa Tomlinson is mayor of Columbus, Georgia, and she has some words of encouragement for voters in her city and her state. Despite the fact that Republican gubernatorial candidate, Brian Kemp (noted racist and gun nut) is holding 53,000 voter registrations in "pending" status, she urged them to go to the polls anyway. She encouraged citizens to "play the ball from where it lies."

Acknowledging that it's awful that they have to bring IDs, she reminded voters in Georgia that they need to do it, saying "we lost that battle long ago," so bring them with you. If your registration can be reconciled with your ID, your vote will be counted right there on the regular machines at the polling places. If there are discrepancies between your ID and the info the local registrar has, you will still be given a provisional ballot, which will then be further investigated to clear up any differences in info. Mayor Tomlinson said about 50% of provisional ballots do go on to be counted.

She ended with an inspiring and encouraging urgency to her call for Georgians to make it their business to get themselves to the voting booths -- she told them to do it for themselves and their neighbors. "They have been working so hard to make sure — even in the midst of Hurricane Michael — that voting can begin as soon as this Monday. Don't let them down. Replace the people who want to keep you down, so we can lift you up."

These local registrars, these are your neighbors. These are not elected at the state level. These are folks, they're ready for this. This national attention, the state-wide attention we've been given, they are ready for this. Get in there and vote. They are going to do everything they can to reconcile these outstanding applications and make sure that your vote counts. And I also want to say, don't forget, Hurricane Michael just hit southwest Georgia, where Stacey is running incredibly well. I spoke with the the mayor of Albany last night. She told me despite the fact that they have been without power for days, their registrar is ready to go. They're going to start voting on Monday morning. So, you all, do right by your neighbors and your people out there in these local registrars offices trying to facilitate your right to vote, and get out there and the give them the opportunity to get this right, then we'll replace the people that do not respect your right to vote and we'll get these policies straight going forward.

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