All the naysayers famous for insisting that your vote doesn’t matter were decisively proven wrong during last year’s presidential campaign. Georgia tipped the scales for President-elect Joe Biden in a surprise victory where votes in certain counties, and in some cases neighborhoods, pushed him over the top.
All eyes are on Georgia again tomorrow, when the voters from this one state will determine the fate of the entire U.S. Senate leadership — and, analysts say, President-elect Biden’s very ability to govern. If the two Republican incumbents, Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue, hold on to their seats, the Republicans will remain in control. But if both their Democratic challengers, the Rev. Raphael Warnock and documentary filmmaker Jon Ossoff, defeat them, the Senate will be split 50/50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the tie breaker.
Since the November election, Georgia has been the scene of a high-stakes political drama which has all of the familiar characteristics of these times — sophisticated voter suppression, overheated rhetoric, racist campaign material and voter fraud conspiracy theories. The latter has been framed by Republican infighting, stirred by chief conspiracist President Donald Trump, who called Republican Gov. Brian Kemp a “fool” and a “clown” and bashed Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger for not stopping the yet-to-be documented fraud — bashing which brought death threats to Raffensberger and his wife and to the poll workers conducting the three post-election ballot counts the president wanted. Caught in the crosshairs: the president’s loyal supporters trying to decipher a confusing directive. Vote for the Republican incumbents to support the party? Or don’t vote because you believe your votes will be stolen?
Meanwhile, the voter groups supporting the Democrats are hoping the confusion depresses the Republican vote. They’ve never let up on their intense voter canvassing and registration drives. And it may have paid off. More than 168,000 Georgians cast ballots in the Senate race on the first day of early voting two weeks ago, more than the first day of early voting for the November general election. Plus, 1.2 million Georgia voters requested absentee ballots. But there is no way to identify which voters made the request. And this is such a cliffhanger, with the races so tight, most pollsters won’t venture a prediction.
I wonder if the same voters who rejected President Trump’s 2020 candidacy will reject Republican Senate candidates Kelly Loeffler and David Purdue, who’ve been virtual mouthpieces for the president’s harmful policies and racist polemics. Veteran organizers like La Tosha Brown of Black Voters Matter have urged voters of color — key to the success of Warnock and Ossoff — to wield their collective power. Recently, Brown has closed out voter rallies with a stirring rendition of a beloved civil rights movement anthem whose refrain is a mantra: “Keep your eyes on the prize, hold on.”
We’ll know tomorrow whose vision of the prize prevails.
