State News

Alexander's remarks were echoed by Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director at the advocacy group All Voting is Local, who said in a statement that "these new bills are a reprehensible power grab that were rushed through committee and never intended to solve the real issues that plagued our elections like long lines, machine malfunctions, and staffing scarcities."

"Georgia voters turned out in November and January, making their voices heard through ballot drop boxes, expanded absentee voting, and increased early voting hours," added Khondoker. "That increased access empowered voters to change Georgia's political landscape, and now, the legislature is trying to ensure it never happens again. Georgians must have the freedom to vote in the way that works best for them."

PHOENIX – All Voting is Local Arizona State Director Alex Gulotta released the following statement ahead of today’s oral arguments in Brnovich v. DNC before the U.S. Supreme Court:

"Georgia Republican lawmakers are brazenly trying to silence voters through House Bill 531, which includes deliberate restrictions on early voting, absentee voting, and ballot drop boxes," declared Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director of All Voting Is Local Action, a campaign of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

"This is a desperate attempt to solidify their own power by silencing others," Khondoker said in a statement Friday. "Despite a global pandemic and repressive legislative attempts to block access to the ballot, record numbers of Georgians voted in 2020 using every method available, and now that accessibility is under attack."

"This bill targets all Georgians, and particularly punishes low-income voters, people in rural communities, the elderly, and religious communities of color," she added. "It's critical that lawmakers reject this alarming legislation that aggressively limits voting in communities that have long suffered diminished access to the ballot.

“This is the opposite of what we should be doing,” Brad Ashwell, the Florida director of the voting rights group, All Voting is Local, told the legislators. “We should make the vote-by-mail option permanent until voters opt out.”

WASHINGTON – In op-eds for Talking Points Memo, the Arizona Republic, Cleveland.com, Nevada Independent, Tampa Bay Times - and an accompanying Spanish version in the Orlando Sentinel - All Voting is Local Pennsylvania, Arizona, Ohio, Nevada, and Florida state directors share lessons learned from the 2020 general election—with firsthand accounts of how changes spurred by the pandemic affected voters—and urge officials to fix outdated voting systems and expand access to the ballot.

For Aklima Khondoker, Georgia state director for All Voting is Local, Raffensperger’s actions have been continuously trending toward focusing on his own political survival instead of prioritizing voters and a fair process. “These two versions are at odds,” said Khondoker. “In one version, Raffensperger is committed to rejecting political fodder, while in the other, he signals a call to his base.”

Khondoker challenged the inconsistencies within Raffensperger’s approach to the current election cycle even after he unequivocally condemned the worst of allegations. “We hear that our elections were conducted fairly, honestly and free from fraud,” Khondoker told Truthout. “Raffensperger is fueling suspicions about our elections by opening baseless investigations that serve to weaken the integrity of our elections for political gain.”