Black Georgia voters celebrate Warnock’s win and efforts to beat voter suppression

By Curtis Bunn, NBC News

ATLANTA — The morning after the Senate runoff election between incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican nominee Herschel Walker brimmed with relief and satisfaction for many Black Georgia voters, who were essential in clinching the win for Warnock on Tuesday.  

But their sense of accomplishment didn’t just come from Warnock’s win. It came from their perceived success in overcoming what they viewed as voter suppression efforts by Republicans, in the form of the Election Integrity Act of 2021, which established new voter guidelines. After the 2020 election — when Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump, in part by winning Georgia, and Warnock and fellow Democrat Jon Ossoff were elected to the Senate — Georgia Republicans passed bill SB 202, which approved the rollout of contentious voting mandates in Georgia.

The new guidelines included shortening the turnaround for runoffs to four weeks, from eight, which meant long lines because there would be only one week of early voting and no opportunity to register and cast ballots before a runoff. Warnock’s campaign successfully sued the state over the mandate and won an extra day, Saturday, Nov. 26, for early voting. 

“It backfired on them,” said Cam Sanders, a Georgia voter who lives in suburban Atlanta. “And you know when I knew that it would? When the bill first passed. Everyone I talked to about it was really mad in a way like, ‘I’m going to prove you wrong. You won’t stop us.’ And that’s what happened. We didn’t let it stop us.”

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Georgia held a runoff after the midterm election was too close to call.

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