‘Stop the pain,’ George Floyd’s brother tells Congress
Voting groups call Georgia primary ‘complete catastrophe’
Voting rights groups called problems with Georgia’s voting Tuesday “a complete catastrophe” that is ominous for November’s election.
Some voters waited up to seven hours to cast ballots, while others were turned away without being sure their provisional ballots would be counted. The number of polling places was dramatically reduced. And voters reported problems with poll workers unable to operate voting equipment.
“Georgia’s election was a complete catastrophe,” said Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Malfunctioning equipment, long lines, poll sites that opened late, insufficiently trained poll workers and paper ballot shortages resulted in a day of chaos for voters seeking to exercise their voice.”
Myrna Perez, director of voting rights and elections program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, said the problems were “a huge warning” for November because they were preventable and predictable.
“This wasn’t merely a warning bell,” Perez said. “These were warning sirens.”
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told The Associated Press that state law charges counties with onground operation of elections.
“It’s really specifically in one or two counties, in Fulton and DeKalb counties, that had these issues today,” Raffensperger said. “It has nothing to do with what we’re doing in the rest of Georgia.”
In the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Jon Ossoff was far ahead of two other candidates in his bid to challenge Republican U.S. Sen. David Perdue in November. As of noon Wednesday, he had just shy of 49% of the counted vote, trailed by Teresa Tomlinson and Sarah Riggs Amico.
Joanne Steiner, a retired smallbusiness owner who lives in Atlanta, said she applied for an absentee ballot to avoid the threat of coronavirus. Her ballot arrived late Friday in the mail, but rather than risk having it not returned in time, Steiner ventured out that day for the last day of early voting in person.
The line at the Sandy Springs Library wrapped around the building and Steiner said she waited 51⁄2 hours without proper social distancing. Poll workers couldn’t initially confirm her registration, despite her living at the same address for 18 years and voting in the last election. But Steiner had brought her absentee ballot application with her registration number and her passport for identification.
“This was an outrageous experience. I don’t know which part of it was more demeaning,” Steiner said.
WASHINGTON – Philonise Floyd challenged Congress on Wednesday to “stop the pain” as lawmakers consider a sweeping law enforcement overhaul, so his brother George won’t be just “another name” on a growing list of those killed during interactions with police.
Floyd’s appearance before a House hearing came a day after the funeral for George Floyd, the 46-year-old Minnesota man whose death has become a worldwide symbol in demonstrations over calls for changes to police practices and an end to racial prejudices.
“I’m here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain,” Philonise Floyd told the silenced hearing room.
Choking back tears, he said he wants to make sure that his brother is “more than another face on a T-shirt. More than another name on a list that won’t stop growing.”
Floyd challenged lawmakers, “Be the leaders that this country, this world, needs. Do the right thing.”
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler gaveled in the session as Democrats review the Justice in Policing Act, a far-ranging package of proposals amid a national debate on policing and racial inequity.
Republicans are criticizing activists who want to “defund the police” – a catch-all term for re-imagining law enforcement, but one that President Donald Trump and his allies have seized on to portray Democrats as extreme as GOP lawmakers rush to come up with their own proposals.
Rep. Karen Bass, D-Calif., the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, which is leading the legislative effort, said the proposed changes reflect a nation coming to grips with a history of racial injustice.
“This is about the kind of America we all want to see,” said Bass.
The brother’s testimony captivated the room as he recounted what he saw in the widely viewed video as an officer pressed a knee into George Floyd’s neck while other police stood by. The one officer is now charged with murder, and three others also face charges.
“He didn’t fight back. He listened to the officers. He called them ‘sir,’ ” said Philonise Floyd. “He still called them ‘sir’ as he begged for his life.”
Within the brother’s testimony were many of the core issues being debated as part of the police overhaul. Those include questions about whether it’s appropriate to have police officers respond to minor offenses – Floyd was suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill – and the use of force to detain suspects.
Philonise Floyd said, “I am asking you, is that what a black man’s life is worth? Twenty dollars?”