Georgia, North Carolina see surge in black voter turnout
As Republicans attempt to reduce early voting opportunities, especially Sunday voting, new data from this year’s midterms help explain why the GOP might want to eliminate voting on Sundays.
Georgia and North Carolina both experienced a surge on voter turnout, especially among blacks.
Blacks accounted for an already impressive 27% of all early votes cast so far, according to numbers analyzed by The New York Times. But looking at Sunday alone, that figure nearly doubles to a whopping 53%.
One likely reason for the Sunday surge is the “Souls to the Polls” drives, in which black churches organize buses to take congregants to vote en masse after services.
The numbers will also offer encouragement to the campaigns of Michelle Nunn in Georgia and Sen. Kay Hagan in North Carolina. Both Democrats are in tight races and are counting on heavy African-American turnout to push them over the line.
Both states have experienced more targeted efforts to get blacks to the polls. A flyer circulated by the Georgia Democratic Party urged residents to vote to avoid a replay of what’s happening in Ferguson, Missouri.
In North Carolina, a flyer warned that a Republican Senate would impeach the president.
The black vote matters.
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