Activists in rural Georgia seek more robust effort to get Black voters to the polls

DAWSON, Ga. (AP) — The Rev. Ezekiel Holley was in his early 20s when white supremacists burned down two Baptist churches in Terrell County, Georgia. Local activists had used the spaces to organize a few years before the Civil Rights Movement won federal protections for Black Americans at the ballot box.

So four years ago, when Black Georgians in rural counties proudly marched to the polls, where they helped determine the outcome of a presidential election and sent two Democrats to the US Senate, Holley was elated.

This year, as Holley ambles with a cane through the backroads of the Terrell County seat of Dawson, knocking on doors of Black Georgians in a region where turnout is historically low, he worries he’s not seeing the same level of outreach that lifted President Joe Biden to a narrow win in 2020 in Georgia, which once again has emerged as a pivotal swing state in this year’s race for the presidency.

Biden won in part with the support of Black voters in rural south Georgia. That year, there were several high-profile races happening at once, which brought a flurry of activity and sparked enthusiasm among Black voters who had been historically neglected by candidates. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff — now senators — and former gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams traveled to the area to help turn out Black voters across rural counties. It didn't hurt that Warnock and Abrams, both Black, have long been at ease in the rural South.

Holley, 83, remembers 2020 as the biggest mobilization effort he’d seen in the region. It helped Democrats win the state’s 16 electoral votes for the first time in decades. Biden’s narrow margin of victory in the state remains seared into the minds of many in part because of a call from then-President Donald Trump to Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's Republican Secretary of State. The GOP presidential candidate implored the state's top elections official to “find” enough votes — he lost by 11,779 — to change the outcome.

The campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris called this year’s effort “the largest in-state operation of any Democratic presidential campaign cycle.” But some, like Holley, aren't feeling the energy.

"It was well organized four years ago,” said Holley, who is president of Terrell County’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). “That organization might appear, but I don’t see it in action yet.”

Black voters in rural Georgia can be hard to reach. The area is sparsely populated and many Democratic pockets in southwest Georgia sit in rural counties afflicted by decades of economic despair. Residents here often tell advocates they don’t think their vote will change anything.

“There’s already underinvestment in rural communities, particularly in Georgia,” said Sherrell Byrd, Executive Director of SOWEGA Rising, a southwest Georgia nonprofit. “Because of that, when it comes to political seasons, people are already politically depressed — we’re already economically depressed.”

Data from the Georgia Secretary of State indicates that nearly half of all active voters in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers much of southwestern Georgia, are Black. And more Black registered voters there turned out in 2020 than in 2016, according to an analysis of state data.

Holley has been rallying a small group of residents — young and old — to knock on doors each week. Terrell County is about 60% Black, and has produced Democratic majorities in recent presidential elections. Black Voters Matter, a nonprofit group, funds their turnout efforts.

On a cloudy October Saturday, two days before the voter registration deadline, Holley set out in Dawson with Delvin Blackwell and Patricia Powell. Blackwell zipped down the sidewalk, knocking on doors and leaving flyers when people didn’t answer. Holley trailed behind, asking anyone who came by if they were ready to vote. Many of them knew Holley, and greeted him warmly before he made his pitch.

The trio found AJ Harrold sitting on a patio chair. At 88, Harrold remembers a time when he couldn't vote. Powell signed him up for an absentee ballot, but he isn't sure he will cast it.

“Most of the time, politicians don’t come around and just explain what they’re gonna do and what’s going on,” said Harrold.

When Jaleen Green cracked his door open, he told the canvassers he wasn’t eligible to vote. At 19, he didn’t know he could register. He let Powell inside to help him fill out a registration form at his kitchen table.

Green said he hadn’t noticed people campaigning for either candidate. He said he plans to vote for Trump, whose campaign has far fewer Georgia volunteers than the Harris campaign. His dad is a Trump supporter with a sign in his yard, and Green thinks Trump would be better for the economy. But he grew more animated when the conversation turned to local concerns.

“Fix the streets, the road,” Green said. “Build a community center for young people. Feed the homeless, give them shelter because we have bad weather.”

Gloria Brown didn’t vote in 2020 because she'd been homeless for a time and had trouble registering. She feels frustrated about the lack of jobs with decent pay and wants politicians to try harder to earn votes from people like her.

“You have to come here and interact with us," she said.

Samantha Turner, who was visiting her aunt in Dawson, lives in nearby Dougherty County. She watched parts of the last presidential debate and said she will vote for Harris — but worries that she’s not seeing the all-out effort this time.

“The mobilization is not as seen as it was back in 2020,” Turner said. “There’s not that many signs, either. A lot of people don’t know what’s at stake.”

Some Black leaders in south Georgia say they’ve seen outreach ramp up lately. That’s partly because funding came late and Hurricane Helene interrupted, said Ryan Brown, who recently became Harris' regional political director for south Georgia.

“I’m seeing groups that are usually active 90 days out being activated roughly 30 days out,” Brown said.

Black Voters Matter works in Georgia year-round, and organizations founded by Abrams, Fair Count and the New Georgia Project, have also targeted hard-to-reach voters.

State Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, a Democrat from Dawson, disputes the idea that Democrats aren’t doing enough in southwest Georgia.

“There was a lot of ground the Democratic Party had to cover within a short span of time and I think they have done a phenomenal job getting it done,” she said.

The Harris campaign said their regional operation boasts nearly 70 full-time staffers, 10 offices, 4,500 volunteers and more than 500 events.

Harris visited the state’s southeast coastal region in August, hitting the city of Savannah and Liberty County on a bus tour, but she didn't go west. She is scheduled to campaign in Atlanta on Saturday.

Last weekend, former President Bill Clinton campaigned in southwest and middle Georgia. The Harris campaign says Ossoff will visit south Georgia later this month.

Rev. Lorenzo Heard, a Democrat, chairs the county commission in Dougherty County, which includes southwest Georgia’s largest city of Albany, an early battleground in the fight for civil rights.

Heard is worried in particular that Black men won't vote. He said overall enthusiasm was down without other high-profile races on the ballot and that not enough people were making the case for turnout in the region.

“There’s a lot of people we gotta wake up,” Heard said. “If that crowd’s asleep, Georgia’s closer to slipping out of our hands.”

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Data journalist Kavish Harjai contributed from Los Angeles.

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Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon