Disinformation and suppression loom over Georgia, says Black Voters Matter co-founder : NPR

Just a few months ago, it looked like Donald Trump had secured the state of Georgia for the November election. Then Joe Biden dropped out of the race and Kamala Harris jumped in.

Now, the state is very much in play.

Black voters make up about a third of the population in Georgia. Their votes will matter. So All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly sat down with LaTosha Brown — the co-founder of Black Voters Matter — to find out how she’s thinking about the election, the threat of voter suppression and disinformation, and what Harris’ candidacy means to her.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

Mary Louise Kelly: Tell me what’s scaring you right now as you look at the state of Georgia. Seven weeks to go — what’s the big challenge?

LaTosha Brown: I think what’s frightening is the scope and the intensity of misinformation and disinformation. You know, on social media I’ve seen AI images. I’m seeing these despairing things about VP Harris that I know that are untrue or are false related to her race or identity. I’m seeing those things pop up on my timeline, right? And so that frightens me, because I think — in the absence of having truthful information — sometimes people will gravitate towards those things that are sensational, and they believe because of the way that it’s presented sometimes.

Kelly: Are you frightened about efforts by activists trying to remove voters from the voting rules in Georgia? Like, there aren’t as many drop boxes.

Brown: Oh, absolutely. I think what we saw with the Senate Bill 202 — that passed right after the 2022 election, which was after the hotly contested U.S. Senate race that ultimately led to Senator Warnock — we saw this passage of this bill that we call the blueprint of voter suppression. You know, what that bill did is it restricted the number of drop boxes. What we know is in the 2020 election that that was a very effective tool for people to be able to participate. That everybody does not work a 9-to-5 job. People have different schedules. It provided additional access for folks to vote.

You also have this process that I’m deeply concerned about now, in the last month or so, there’s been these two rules that have been changed around the certification of election results. And so now you can have an election official to say, “I think something is wrong” — they don’t have to show any proof — so they can actually delay the certification process. And so that frightens me, that will the election be decided on November 5 in a way that those votes are certified?

Kelly: Let me ask you: Are you confident that Georgia will hold a free and fair election?

Brown: I am confident that I believe we have a solid election process. What I’m not confident in is that those who are the leaders of the state — i.e. in this state, the Republican Party — I am not confident that they will work expeditiously to make sure that those votes are, in fact, certified as they should be.

Kelly: Are you talking about the state election board?

Brown: I’m talking about the state election board.

Kelly: Because Georgia elected officials famously held the line in 2020 against a lot of pressure.

Brown: And even that, you know, while they held the line — because I do think that there’s a split in the Republican Party — those are the same election officials now that purged hundreds of thousands of voters in this state as well. Those are also the same election officials that were the designers and the architects of SB 202. What I think is they’re far more sophisticated than Trump and some of the other folks. But I also believe, will the election be ran in a certain way that it has integrity? I do. I think that the election will be ran where they have integrity. My concern is, will the certification process be challenged? That’s probably my biggest concern at this point.

Kelly: Last thing, and I’ll just make it personal. As a woman of color, how are you thinking about the significance of having a woman of color on top of a major party ticket and possibly being elected to become president.

Brown: I am personally, not only excited, I’m really humbled by the possibility that we’ve gotten here. That what I know is that this road has been paved for a long, long time — people like Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth and Ida B. Wells and Dorothy Height. I can go on and on and on. People who have actually tested the boundaries and have created this space, I think there is absolutely a moment for us to celebrate, because I do believe that having a woman in that space and in that position itself opens up the opportunities and the possibilities for us to really recognize and lean into how important it is for us to create spaces for women to lead, and how we need women’s leadership.

And so I believe that her presence at the top of the ticket alone actually sends a message. But I also believe that if she wins this election, as I have been unapologetic in my personal capacity of saying that that is my desire, I think every single sector of our society will be impacted as well. And so in a nation where the majority of the citizens are women, yet we pale in comparison in terms of representation, anytime I think there’s an expansion of representation, it’s like when you put a little light in a dark room, it changes the character the room.