'Journalists need to follow the facts,' UGA professor says of media's Georgia voting coverage
University of Georgia professor Joseph Watson discusses media coverage of the Georgia voting law, which President Biden likened to Jim Crow-era suppression tactics.
An op-ed published Thursday by CNN credited the record voter turnout for Georgia's primary elections to voter "tenacity" in the face of the election law it continued to frame as voter suppression.
In the piece, former Obama administration official Norman Eisen and former federal prosecutor Dennis Aftergut argued that although Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp's victory over former Sen. David Perdue in Tuesday's Republican gubernatorial primary was "good for democracy," the former was "hardly its friend."
"More ill tidings for democracy come with a closer look at Kemp's record," they wrote, claiming Kemp fell short of being a "hero" for pushing back against former President Donald Trump's claims of election fraud in the state following the 2020 presidential election.
"He simply did the bare minimum required to in the end to uphold Georgia votes," they added, before going on to describe his signing of the state's 2021 election integrity law as "dangerous behavior."
GEORGIA EARLY VOTING SHATTERS RECORDS DESPITE ELECTION REFORMS DEMS LABELED ‘VOTER SUPPRESSION’
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - MAY 24: People use voting machines to fill out their ballots as they vote in the Georgia primary at the Metropolitan Library on May 24, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Detailing a number of provisions implemented by the law, they repeated the claim that it "suppresses Black votes" despite the state's turnout record being shattered in this week's primary, more than a year after it was signed into law.
The two did, however, note that voters were turning out in higher numbers, but claimed it was because of voter "tenacity."
"It is true, of course, that despite all these hurdles, voters are turning out in strong numbers to vote in person in the primary. But the fact that they are overcoming so many stumbling blocks and still making it to the polls is sign of their tenacity. It says nothing positive about the man who helped erect the barriers," they wrote.
RECORD TURNOUT IN GEORGIA PRIMARY DESTROYS LEFT'S LIES ABOUT ‘VOTER SUPPRESSION’
Campaign signs for Republican Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and former Republican Georgia Sen. David Perdue on the side of the road. ( REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer)
The massive turnout by Georgia voters in the face of the law, which many on the left described as akin to Jim Crow laws in the South, didn't go unnoticed by the same liberal media outlets that previously reported on its alleged "voter suppression."
One example was The Washington Post, which admitted earlier this week that voting was "surging" in the state after claiming on a number of occasions that the law would make voting "harder," and that it would make it "disproportionately more difficult for poorer voters and voters of color to cast their ballots."
U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (D-GA) arrives at a Fulton County polling station to cast his ballot in the general primary election in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. May 6, 2022. (REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage)
Georgia saw high turnout motivated in part by the closely watched primary fight between Kemp and Perdue, as well as Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger's contest with Trump-backed congressman Jody Hice. Kemp and Raffensperger both won handily to avoid runoffs and clinch their nominations.
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Stacey Abrams, despite no opposition in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, drew more votes than she and 2018 primary opponent Stacey Evans got combined that year.
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