Councilman Khalid Kamau will host a Voting Rights Town Hall on Thursday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m. The event will be held at Pinetree Park Baptist Church, 2855 Bethsaida Road.
The program will begin with a screening of “Suppressed: The Fight to Vote.” The documentary by Robert Greenwald weaves together personal stories from voters across the state of Georgia of voter suppression in the 2018 midterm election. Issues highlighted in the film include polling place closures, voter purges, missing absentee ballots, extreme wait times and voter ID issues.
Following the screening, Councilman Khalid will facilitate a panel discussion with special guests Sen. Nikema Williams, Rep. Renitta Shannon and Georgia Voter Protection Hotline attorney Penn Payne. In addition to themes in the film, panelists will also discuss state budget cuts and new legislation being proposed at the Capitol.
Event attendees will have an opportunity to test out Georgia’s new voting machines ahead of the March 24 presidential preference primary. This will be Georgia voters’ first use of a paper-ballot system. While the technology is not radically different from the previous system, the new machines give voters an opportunity to view a printout of their selections and then use a scanner to count their ballot as it drops into a locked ballot box.
