Don't Let Georgia Republicans Cheat and Steal the Governor's Mansion From Stacey Abrams. Demand a Run-Off Election, Now!

Stacey Abrams could become the first black female governor in the history of not just Georgia, but the entire country. And for this to occur in a state so red, and so historically plagued by racism and violence against African-Americans, is incredible.

As it stands right now, Abrams is only 67,000 votes behind her opponent, Brian Kemp — in a race where 3.8 million ballots were cast. Their percentages of the vote come to 49% (Abrams) to 50.3% (Kemp). By Georgia law, if no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, officals are required to hold a new, fair election, called a "run-off." With 77,000 absentee ballots left to count, Georgia looks headed in that direction.

But even if Kemp doesn't dip below the 50% threshold, Georgia NEEDS to hold a run-off election for governor.

Echoes of Georgia's harrowing past — in which white mobs murdered Black Americans who dared to vote — seemed to waft over the state this past election. Every week, Kemp and his Republican buddies tried a new scheme to stop Black citizens from voting.

The list could go on and on, but here's a short summary of the many ways Brian Kemp and his friends tried to cheat, steal, and suppress the vote in order to win:

• Throwing out ballots. Before a court stopped Kemp, his office had already begun tossing absentee ballots, primarily from Black voters, over small discrepancies in signatures or name spelling.
• Tossing out voter registrations. Under a new "use-it-or-lose-it" rule, if you didn't vote in 2016, you might no longer be registered to vote in Georgia. In a larger purge of the voter rolls, approximately 2.3 million people have had their registrations trashed.
• Closing polling places in largely-Black or minority sections of the state.
• Placing non-functioning and broken voting machines in largely-Black polling places.
• Not enough voting machines in largely-minority areas. Waiting 2-5 hours in line to vote was not uncommon.
• And, on top of everything else, Kemp was BOTH overseeing the election — and running in that election. It's like having a football game where the quarterback for one team is also the referee for the whole game.

We live in the United States of America — a democracy where every individual's right to vote is enshrined in the Constitution. That is a right people fought hard and died for. We cannot tolerate voter suppression — especially against people of color. Our history there is too painful, too recent, and too ugly for us to go down that path again.

Stacey Abrams is a stone's throw away from Brian Kemp in this race. If Kemp hadn't lied, cheated, and schemed, what would the results of this election be? We need to find out. Tell Georgian officials to hold a new run-off election!