House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is voicing her outrage over reports of voters waiting in lines for hours in Georgia to cast their ballots in that state’s primaries which took place on Tuesday.
“What we saw in Georgia the other day was shameful,” Pelosi said during her press conference on Thursday.
“It was either a disgrace of incompetence or a disgrace of intention to suppress the vote,” she added.
Pelosi went to list a series of issues she says are hindering elections and the results of the elections such as “manipulation of the social media, obstacles to participation, suppression of the vote.”
“All part of the Republican playbook, because they’re afraid of the voters,” Pelosi added as she suggested that Republican officials in Georgia took steps to suppress voter turnout in certain neighborhoods intentionally.
Watch the video below:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi slams “obstacles to participation” after Georgia voting fallout: “What we saw in Georgia the other day was shameful. It was either a disgrace of incompetence or a disgrace of intention to suppress the vote.” https://t.co/luZwOJ0aVH pic.twitter.com/6UIHYDhIMz
— ABC News (@ABC) June 11, 2020
The Washington Post reports that local officials and election advocates warned Georgia’s top officials that a combination of poor training on new voting machines and fewer polling locations due to the coronavirus could lead to long wait times.
Since the primaries took place, officials have spoken out to say that their warnings went unheeded.
Some have argued that Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) intentionally did not take action to address the warnings to suppress minorities in a bid to help Republican candidates.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested, “What happened in Georgia yesterday was by design.”
What happened in Georgia yesterday was by design.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) June 10, 2020
Voter suppression is a threat to our democracy. pic.twitter.com/XDyeabKFoc
However, Raffensperger denied allegations that Republicans tried to suppress the vote. Instead, he argued that the issues on Tuesday were caused by a few counties not properly preparing ahead of the primaries.
In a statement, Raffensperger said, “What is clear from yesterday is that while almost every county delivered successful elections, a couple did not.”
He added, “We are here to protect every voter. Republicans, Democrats and Independents deserve well-run elections.”
Tuesday’s primaries in Georgia were the first time the state used a new electronic voting system instead of paper ballots. The Post notes that voters and poll workers expressed confusion over how the new system works.
Additionally, some polling stations were reportedly short-staffed over concerns of the coronavirus, and there were issues getting voters absentee ballots.
The Georgia secretary of state’s office said it has opened an investigation into the disfunction on Tuesday to determine how the breakdown happened.
However, Pelosi argued at Thursday’s press conference, “We must inoculate against the actions that are predictable that [Republicans] may take. And we got a picture of that in Georgia just a couple days ago.”
Citing fears that officials may try to suppress voter turnout, Congressional Democrats have introduced legislation to increase election infrastructure security and expand access to absentee ballots
