The Hashtag
#VoterSuppression trended during 2018 midterms as Georgia’s gubernatorial race exposed modern voter disenfranchisement tactics, particularly affecting Black voters.
Origins
The 2018 Georgia governor’s race between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp became a national flashpoint. Kemp, as Secretary of State, oversaw the election he was running in—a massive conflict of interest.
Documented suppression tactics:
- 53,000 voter registrations on hold (70% Black voters) via “exact match” law
- 1.4 million voters purged from rolls (2012-2018)
- Polling place closures in Black neighborhoods (214 closed since 2013)
- 4-hour wait times in predominantly Black areas
- Absentee ballot rejections for minor signature discrepancies
Cultural Impact
The race galvanized attention on:
- Shelby County v. Holder (2013 SCOTUS decision gutting the Voting Rights Act)
- Voter ID laws disproportionately affecting minorities
- Purging voters who skipped elections
- Closing polling places under the guise of budget cuts
- Restricting early voting and Sunday voting (“Souls to the Polls”)
Kemp won by 55,000 votes (1.4%)—fewer than the registrations he held up. Abrams refused to formally concede, saying “concession means to acknowledge an action is right” and launched Fair Fight to combat voter suppression.
The hashtag represented:
- Modern-day Jim Crow tactics in voting
- The GOP’s demographic panic strategy
- Voting rights as civil rights battleground
- Stacey Abrams as a voting rights champion
By 2020, Georgia flipped blue (Biden + 2 Senate seats), partly due to Abrams’ organizing against suppression.