Georgia Groups Discover that Gwinnett County is Rejecting Absentee Ballot Request at an Alarming Rate and Its Mostly People of Color Being Impacted

October 16, 2018(Atlanta, GA) –  Civic engagement organizations ProGeorgia and the Coalition for the Peoples Agenda have evaluated data collected as of October 15th, from the Secretary of State Absentee file and have found that Gwinnett County officials are seemingly engaging in activity geared to suppress voter turnout.  Of the 1,476 rejected absentee ballot requests in the state, 51% come from Gwinnett County. Of the 1,070 ballots rejected, 36.5% come from Gwinnett County. Gwinnett County is rejecting ballot requests at a rate 4.6 times higher than the state, and ballots at a rate 4.3 times higher than the state.  Statewide and in Gwinnett County, over 2/3 of affected voters are people of color.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 11, 2018

Civil Rights Groups Sue Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp to Cease Discriminatory ‘No Match, No Vote’ Registration Protocol

Lawsuit filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its partners on Behalf of Georgia Organizations

WASHINGTON, D.C. –  Today, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its partners filed a major lawsuit against Secretary of State Brian Kemp over the state of Georgia’s discriminatory and unlawful “exact match” voter suppression scheme. The suit alleges that Georgia’s ‘no match, no vote’ voter registration scheme violates the Voting Rights Act, the National Voter Registration Act, and the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.

For Release: Tuesday, October 9, 2018

New York—American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, along with many community-based organizations—including the ACLU, the Hispanic Federation, Kids in Need of Defense, the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, LULAC and more than 70 others—today announced the launch of an initiative designed to help classroom teachers protect immigrant students and their families from racism, discrimination, bullying and threats of deportation at public schools.

U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Releases Report: An Assessment of Minority Voting Rights Access in the United States

September 12, 2018

Washington, DC – – Today, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released its report, An Assessment of Minority Voting Rights Access in the United States. Based on extensive research and expert and public testimony, the report assesses minority voter access around the country, and evaluates the Department of Justice’s enforcement of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) since 2006, in particular after the Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision. In Shelby County, the Supreme Court held that preclearance provisions of the VRA unconstitutionally determined which jurisdictions needed federal government pre-approval to change voting procedures.

The Faces of Civic Engagement

Samuel Pittman: GALEO Intern

August 14th, 2018

As my time as a GALEO intern comes to an end, I have learned a lot about the Latinx community, the impact policy has on our friends and neighbors, and how we all can play a role in shaping a better future for generations to come.

Families Belong Together – A Recap of The Trump Administration’s Family-deterring Zero Tolerance Policy

Luis Otero: GALEO Intern

Monday, August 8th, 2018

Families Belong Together

As the Trump administration continues to deal with the influx of asylum seekers at its southern border, the extent of the practices and means by which it chooses to do this have come into public scrutiny. Outcries pointing to immoral and inhumane treatment by law enforcement agencies of those arrested attempting to cross continue to bring attention to the problem. Families are being torn apart with young children being separated from their parents. This has raised questions of the constitutionality of these measures, and many pro-immigrant advocacy groups have started protesting and denouncing these actions. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has taken legal action against U.S. immigration authorities in a lawsuit challenging the separation of families. All this following U.S. Attorney General, Jeff Sessions’, May announcement of deciding to criminally prosecute 100 percent of all cases of illegal border crossings. This “zero tolerance” policy, as it has come to be known, not only puts the immigration issue front and center of national political headlines, but it also has called for an increased push for humane and decent treatment of immigrants and refugees as it pertains to both national and international standards.