Georgia voter suppression in a nursing home.

[GoneOffShore]

So, a friend of a friend of mine just posted this account on Facebook about her experiences yesterday.
She is trying to contact the ACLU, and media outlets.
Any Georgia peeps with media contacts please PM me and I'll put you in contact with her

I usually try to stay away from political posts, but with the Georgia governor’s race likely heading to a runoff, I feel like it’s important to share this story.

I spent the day Tuesday canvassing for Lucy McBath. One of the voters on my list was an 85-year-old woman living in a private assisted living facility. She was eager to talk to me, and she knew all about Lucy McBath and Stacey Abrams. The other residents were interested, too; many of them noticed my Obama t-shirt and talked about how proud they had felt when he won in 2008.

The nursing home had not scheduled a trip to the polls for their registered voters. Not one of these residents had been offered the option of filling out an absentee ballot. The polling place was practically across the street.

I asked the staff why these voters had not received any assistance. They had plenty of excuses: scheduling, family permission for outings, questionable mental acuity, etc. But I can’t express the shock and anger I felt when one staff member put her hands on my pregnant belly and said, “Now, we can’t have our residents voting for people who won’t take care of the babies, can we? You wouldn’t want your baby to be ripped out of your womb and broken up into 100 pieces, would you? That’s why we can’t let them vote!”

Friends, if that’s not voter suppression, I don’t know what is. And hands off my belly, lady.

[Stargleamer]

1. There. Is. No. Bottom.

As Paul Krugman has said

[dameatball]

2. actually it is against the law. Patients have the right to vote, make some healthcare decisions,

send and receive mail, etc. I suppose in some extreme cases there may be exceptions, but it doesn't sound like this was anything but a clearly illegal set of actions.

[GoneOffShore]

4. The woman who this happened to has contacted the ACLU

And a Facebook friend of hers has contacted Rachel Maddow.
In addition, she is contacting the ombudsman and both the local Democratic and Republican party organizations(yeah, I know fuck the Republicans, but far better to be seen as fair than partisan, and some of those people might be Republicans and everyone deserves access to the ballot box).

[dameatball]

3. Sorry to double post, but any state licensed nursing home or mental health facility probably has a

written statement or pamphlet that explicitly states what patient rights are in any given circumstance. Voting rights would be included in that statement.