It looks like Georgia voters’ calls to count every ballot casted in the 2018 midterm elections is ruffling some feathers. Yesterday during a rally at the Georgia State Capitol, protestors in favor of delaying the certification of Georgia election results to properly tally all votes, were met by combative police tactics. Georgia state senator Nikema Williams was among the 15 people arrested.Local organizer Tamika Middleton said in a statement, “We are disgusted by the aggressive intimidation tactics by police — the latest effort at voter suppression to silence the voices of Black people.” Middleton went on to compare the interaction between protestors and law enforcement to that of the Jim Crow South.Georgia State Patrol told NBC News on Tuesday that demonstrators were arrested and taken to the Fulton County Jail for “unlawfully disrupting orderly conduct of official business.”
BREAKING: @NikemaForSenate just got released from jail after being arrested at today’s #counteveryvote rally at the Georgia Capitol. “I am incredibly proud and will continue to stand with the citizens of Georgia to demand that their votes be counted.” pic.twitter.com/SA5V3F1oAN
Yesterday evening, after being released from police custody, Senator Williams put out a statement saying, “I showed up at the Capitol today for a special session to take care of the citizens of Georgia. I saw I had constituents protesting for their voices to be heard.” She continued, “I joined them down on the floor, and I was singled out as a Black female senator standing in the rotunda with constituents.”In spite of Williams’ run-in with police, she insists that she will continue fighting for the countless Georgians “who cast their ballots and still don’t feel like their voices are heard.”
To date, election officials have still not called the Georgia gubernatorial race between Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp. Right now the polls have Kemp leading by less than 60,000 votes. Abrams vows to fight until every vote has been counted.
