FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Voters on both sides of the political aisle weighed in on Wednesday’s FBI raid of the Fulton County Elections hub and operations center.
“Make no mistake, this is voter suppression. This is voter intimidation,” activist Devin Barrington-Ward told Channel 2’s Audrey Washington.
“I don’t think there are overreaching privacy issues, and I’d like to see the result. I just don’t think you can say it’s a great or really awful thing,” Thomas Chambers, who heads a Republican organization at UGA, said.
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Chambers said he believes the raid will not even be on the minds of voters come the midterm elections.
“They’ll be 270 news headlines between now and then, and I generally don’t think voters will remember things from long ago,” said Chambers.
Barrington-Ward galvanized the vote during several elections in Fulton County.
He said he thinks the raid will encourage most voters.
“People are able to read the tea leaves and see what’s happening. We know the history that our ancestors and parents and grandparents experienced trying to vote and they still voted,” Barrington-Ward said.
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“The things that will drive turnout is if people are angry or really wanting change,” Regent’s Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University Dr. Jennifer McCoy said.
Dr. McCoy said some voters may be afraid to vote.
“Uncertainty about what’s happening with the data,” she said.
Still, she believes the reaction among most voters to the FBI raid is mixed.
“Some people say they are protecting the vote. Protecting the integrity of the vote. I want them to be around and protect the integrity. Some people may feel safer. Many others are not going to feel safer, and they may be demotivated to vote.”
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