In Georgia, Republicans take aim at Black churches
SAVANNAH,GA.>> Sundays are always special at the St. Philip Monumental AME church. But in October, the pews are often more packed, the sermon a bit more urgent and the congregation more animated and eager for what will follow: Piling into church vans and buses — though some prefer to walk — and heading to the polls.
Voting after Sunday church services, known colloquially as “souls to the polls,” is a tradition in Black communities across the country and the Rev. Bernard Clarke, a minister since 1991, has marshaled the effort at St. Philip for five years. His sermons on those Sundays, he said, deliver a message of fellowship, responsibility and reverence.
“It is an opportunity for us to show our voting rights privilege as well as to fulfill what we know that people have died for, and people have fought for,” Clarke said.
Now, Georgia Republicans are proposing new restrictions on weekend voting that could severely curtail one of the Black church’s central roles in civic engagement and elections. Stung by losses in the presidential race and two Senate contests, the state party is moving quickly to push through these limits and a raft of other measures aimed directly at suppressing the Black turnout that helped Democrats prevail in the critical battleground state.
“The only reason you have these bills is because they lost,” said Bishop Reginald T. Jackson, who oversees all 534 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia. “What makes it even more troubling than that is there is no other way you can describe this other than racism, and we just need to call it what it is.’’
The push for new restrictions in Georgia comes amid a national effort by Republican-controlled state legislatures to impose harsh restrictions on voting access, in states like Iowa, Arizona and Texas.
But the targeting of Sunday voting in new bills that are moving through Georgia’s Legislature has stirred the most passionate reaction, with critics saying it recalls some of the racist voting laws from the state’s past.
The bill that passed the House would limit voting to at most one Sunday in October, but even that would be up to the discretion of the local registrar. It also would severely cut early voting hours in total, limit voting by mail and greatly restrict the use of drop boxes; all measures that activists say would disproportionately affect Black voters.
A similar bill is awaiting a vote in the Senate. Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, has indicated he supports new laws to “secure the vote” but has not committed to all of the restrictions.
Voting rights advocates say there is deep hypocrisy embedded in some of the new proposals. It was Georgia Republicans, they point out, who championed mail balloting in the early 2000s and automatic voting registration just five years ago, only to say they need to be limited now that more Black voters have embraced them.
Historically, churches provided Black congregants more than just transportation or logistical help. Voting as a congregation also offered a form of haven from the intimidation and violence that often awaited Black voters at the polls.
“That was one of the things that my father said, that once Black people got the right to vote, they would all go together because they knew that there was going to be a problem,” said Robert Evans, 59, a member of St. Phillip Monumental. “Bringing
them all together made them feel more comfortable to actually go and do the civic duty.”
In Georgia, the role of the AME church in civic engagement has been growing under the guidance of Jackson. Last year he began Operation Voter Turnout, seeking to expand the ways that AME churches could prepare their members to participate in elections. The operation focused on voter education, registration drives, assistance with absentee ballots and a coordinated Sunday voting operation.
It had an impact in last November’s election, even amid the coronavirus pandemic: According to the Center for New Data, a nonprofit research group, Blacks voted at a higher rate on weekends than voters identifying as White in 107 of the state’s 159 counties. Internal numbers from Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group, found that Black voters made up roughly 37% of those who voted early on Sunday in Georgia, while the Black population of Georgia is about 32%.
State Rep. Barry Fleming, a Republican and chief sponsor of the House bill, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did three other Republican sponsors. In introducing the bill, Republicans in the Legislature portrayed the new restrictions as efforts to “secure the vote” and “restore confidence” in the electoral process, but offered no rationale beyond that and no credible evidence that itwasflawed.
Limiting Sunday voting would affect Black voters beyond losing the assistance of the church. It would inevitably lead to longer lines during the week, especially in the Black community, which has historically been underserved on Election Day.
If Sunday voting is limited, it could induce more Black Georgians to vote by mail. During the pandemic, churches played an instrumental role in helping Blacks navigate the absentee ballot system, which they had not traditionally used in the same proportion as White voters.
At Greater Gaines Chapel AME, a church about a half-mile from St. Philip Monumental, Israel Small spent most of last fall helping church members with the absentee process.
“We took people to drop boxes to help make sure it would be counted,” Small, 79, said.
He said he was angered to learn this winter that Republicans were moving to restrict mail voting, too.