To the surprise of few and the consternation of many, thousands of voters in Georgia waited for hours to cast their vote during the state’s first two days of early voting. Is this a harbinger of the voting difficulties to come in this election?



In four of the most populous counties in the state, Fulton, Gwinnett, DeKalb and Cobb, Georgians have been forced to wait for over two hours to vote, and in Gwinnett County at least three people collapsed while waiting in line due to heat exhaustion.



Most early voters did not anticipate the long lines, and in fact decided to vote early in hopes of avoiding a lengthy wait. At one of the few polling locations in Fulton County the doors opened over an hour late. While many were undeterred, countless others went home or back to work with the goal of voting on another day. This is not how a democracy is supposed to work.



“We definitely never had a line like this,” Gwinnett County’s communications director, Joe Sorenson, told Atlanta news affiliate WSB-TV. “I think a lot of people are interested in voting in this election cycle.”



Feigning surprise and being wholly unprepared for a large number of voters in this situation is not only inexcusable, but also undermines the fabric of our democracy. While Sorenson is right about the large turnout, he is wrong to imply that this disaster is merely a byproduct of poor planning or a surprisingly overzealous electorate.

In 2011, Georgia reduced early voting from 45 days prior to the election to only 21. And in this election cycle Gwinnett County currently has only one early voting location. Cobb County has only two voting locations. As we get closer to the election more polling locations are supposed to open up. But, until then, no one should be surprised about the large turnout of early voters. Especially considering that early voting days have been cut by more than half and that polling locations are few and far between.



These new voting regulations and restrictions are anti-democratic. The images of Georgians waiting for hours to vote three weeks before the election demonstrates not only the significance of this election, but the effectiveness of Georgia’s voter suppression methods.



For months and months, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has bemoaned how the election has been “rigged” and how Hillary Clinton and the Democrats were going to “steal” it from him. And while these statements may be the ignorant, petulant utterances of a 70-year-old man-child who is losing in the polls, they only further contribute to undermining and questioning of the integrity of our democracy.



Trump and his cronies have recently taken their claims to another level and have called upon his supporters to act as makeshift poll monitors, so as to prevent supposed voter fraud. Thus far these declarations have not resulted in a mobilized citizenry demanding that voters present identification and prove their identity as they wait in line to vote. But we should not overlook how Trump and the Republican party want to increase voter intimidation and suppression efforts as we get closer to election day.



No one should have to wait for hours to vote, and the sight of people collapsing from heat exhaustion as they waited should outrage us all. These voter suppression efforts must stop – but can that ever happen when a major political party is campaigning to make them even worse?

