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Georgia voters have been highly motivated to vote in the runoff. According to Planned Parenthood Votes Georgia, abortion remains high on voters’ list of priorities.
Planned Parenthood Votes Georgia organizer Nalah Lewis spoke with NewsOne about the energy and perspective of voters on the ground. She said abortion remains top of mind for Georgia voters.
“We heard talk about Roe being overturned, but I don’t think people knew the severity of it and how quickly it was going to hit directly to each state,” Lewis said. “What I’m seeing is definitely top five on the list of why people are coming out and showing out in massive numbers here in Georgia.”
While some have tried to treat abortion as a trade-off with other issues like the economy and inflation, Lewis said many voters understand abortion as one of many issues impacting their lives. People in low-income or rural communities understand the additional strain on limited resources arising from limited access to abortion.
“People are very fired up when we’re talking to them at their doors and are very excited to go use their voice at these polls and vote for Sen. Warnock,” she said. “Everybody wants the same access.”
Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s president, Alexis McGill Johnson, joined with faith and reproductive rights leaders ahead of Election Day, putting the importance of this election in context for abortion access. Speaking during service at First Iconium Baptist Church, she spoke about the importance and power of her faith.
“I stand here, not just as the president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, but as a woman of faith,” she said. “I stand here as someone who knows that I don’t want any lawmaker in the doctor’s office any more than I want them in my prayerbooks.”
At the Reclaim Your Vote canvass alongside Black Voters Matter co-founders LaTosha Brown and Cliff Albright and Stonecrest Mayor Jazzmin Cobble, McGill Johnson said it was important to be in the peach state “because freedom runs through Georgia.”
All hands on deck to mobilize Georgia voters one more time.
According to the Planned Parenthood Votes Georgia campaign, canvassers were on track to knock on 75,000 doors by Election Day. The investment by Planned Parenthood Votes adds to the efforts by other progressive collectives mobilizing Georgia voters ahead of the Dec. 6 runoff.
Progress Georgia and a coalition of organizational leaders and advocates, known as the Georgia Organizers for Active Transformation, announced they reached over 4 million doors. Coalition members include Black Male Initiative, the Georgia youth Justice Coalition and the New Georgia Project Action Fund. The coalition boasted 2,500 canvassers out knocking doors across the state.
Also, labor volunteers with SEIU were out in neighborhoods over the weekend, reaching out to union households about the importance of the upcoming election. It’s clearly an all-hands moment in mobilizing Georgia voters.
Lewis said it’s about creating opportunities to build and maintain relationships with voters.
“We’re talking to parents and grandparents that expressed outrage and want to show up for their kids and their grandchildren because they had more rights back in their time,” she said. “People are really ready to show up and make sure that they’re protected, protecting reproductive rights.”
SEE ALSO:
Op-Ed: They Won’t Keep Us From The Polls This Runoff
Poll Shows Sen. Raphael Warnock Still Holds Slim Lead Over Herschel Walker
Op-Ed: 2022 Georgia Runoff Matters For Senate Control
The post Abortion Remains A Motivating Factor For Georgia Voters appeared first on NewsOne.
