Georgia
The Center for Public Integrity – GEORGIA REPUBLICANS WANT TO RESHAPE VOTING LAWS, BURDENING VOTERS OF COLOR
Groups that wrote the letter urging Cobb to do more said they offered to help find workers for additional sites. “It is not good enough to hear that resources are an issue when you have voting rights advocates and organizations standing by to provide the help that you say that you purportedly need,” said Aklima Khondoker with the Georgia chapter of All Voting is Local. Khondoker and other advocates also pointed out that most other counties in the Atlanta metro area avoided reducing early voting sites for the runoff.
Common Dreams: ‘Reprehensible Power Grab’: Outrage as Georgia House Passes GOP Bill Restricting Voting Rights
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."
Behind Closed Doors, Georgia’s Legislature is Rushing to Dismantle Voting Rights
ATLANTA — All Voting is Local Georgia State Director Aklima Khondoker issued the following statement in response to the Georgia legislature’s covert and hurried process to hear approximately 50 anti-voter bills without a proper public hearing or comment period:
After Series of Democratic Victories, Rights Advocates Blast Georgia GOP for ‘Brazenly Trying to Silence Voters’
"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.
All Voting is Local State Leaders Urge Voter-Focused Election Reforms During 2021 Legislative Period
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.
Truthout: Raffensperger Stood Up to Trump, But He Also Attacked Voting Rights Groups
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.”