RIVERDALE, Georgia ‒ Verdaillia Turner and other canvassers fanned out Monday across the parking lot of a Walmart here, tucking voter information cards on windshields and urging customers to vote.
The retired teacher sported a bright orange sweatshirt that read “Power of the Ballot,’’ and called out to people loading their cars and pushing shopping carts.
“Don’t forget to vote,’’ said Turner, 68, who was canvassing for the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, a voting rights and social justice group.
“Hello young lady. Did you vote?’’ she asked.
Turnout had been low in early voting in Clayton County, worrying organizers in this battleground state, where turnout could determine who wins the presidency.
The turnout story was different statewide, where more than 4 million people ‒ over half of all registered voters in 90 of the state’s 159 counties ‒ had already cast ballots by the time early voting ended on Friday.
“This was the most successful Early Voting period in Georgia history because voters trust the process,” Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement Saturday. “Four years of progress brought us here. We’re battle-tested and ready, regardless of what the critics say. And we’re going to hold those who interfere in our elections accountable.”
Still, get-out-the-vote advocates weren’t ready to rest.
In the days leading up to Election Day, activists from national and local civic engagement groups stopped by barber shops, attended church services and visited college campuses across the state encouraging Georgians to vote.
“We’re in play,’’ said Turner, president of the Georgia Federation of Teachers. “This state can make or break any candidate. So we are doing our part to make sure that, especially people who feel disenfranchised, feel empowered and use their power at the ballot. This is one of the very few times that we as people have a direct say so in this democracy.’’
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Turning to prayer for healing
Hours earlier Monday at a prayer breakfast and rally at the Grits & Eggs restaurant, speaker after speaker called for more Georgians to vote and more healing for a divided country.
Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie urged attendees to “encourage those who are not in this room so they would catch on fire and would express themselves at the ballot box.’’
“Don’t let us waste a vote,’’ she said to a chorus of amens. “Don’t let this moment pass us by.’’
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, likened the get-out-the-vote efforts on the eve of Election Day to a relay race.
“We are on the last leg,’’ she said. “We’re going to get out there and do what we got to do.”
Soon after the morning rally two busloads of canvassers headed to Clayton County a few miles from Atlanta.
In the Walmart parking lot, Damaris McDee, 67, a volunteer with the Georgia Coalition for the People’s Agenda, joined other canvassers approaching people near a crawfish restaurant and a health center.
“Have you voted yet?’’ McDee asked passersby as she also handed out flyers and buttons.
She gave a nod and thumbs up to those who answered yes. McDee of Stone Mountain, Georgia said she wanted to spend the day encouraging others to vote.
“It’s important, the things that are on the ballot,’’ she said. “Our freedom is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot.”
“We don’t want to go back,” she said.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, co-founder and executive director of the African American Policy Forum, a social justice think-tank, also joined the canvassers. She called Georgia the “battleground of the battlegrounds.’’
“I don’t want to wake up Wednesday and ask was there anything else any of us could have done to get our voices heard in this pivotal election,’’ said Crenshaw. “I don’t want to wake up in a year when the consequences are clear that if we don’t exercise our political rights ‒ you lose them.”
Crenshaw said Georgia has played an important role in the history of African Americans.
“This is the heart of our legacy,’’ she said. “If we fail to step up here, what messages are we sending to the rest’’ of the country.
Turner, the retired teacher from Stone Mountain, said she will continue to help urge voters to cast ballots and she’s not alone. In some places, she said, more people have stepped up to work at the polls and help with canvassing.
“If anything it has ignited a fire so that more folks say, ‘Oh, let me get involved. This is real,’’’ said Turner, who stopped to talk to a mother with children about voting. “We have confidence that the system will work. Only thing we need to do is make sure those votes are turned out and we need Georgia to turn out. And so far they’ve been doing it.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Voters in battleground Georgia urged to show up on Election Day
