Stacy Abrams, the rising democratic star from Georgia is forgoing a run for the presidency to concentrate on the voter suppression which almost surely denied her the governorship of her state in 2018. While it would seem to be an easy choice to not join the 24 or so democratic candidates in a grueling race for the democratic presidential nomination, Abrams has picked an even tougher fight.
Suppression of voting rights in America has been a constant since the republic was born. Originally, only white property owners could vote, and even that franchise was restricted. More and more categories of white men were eventually added to the rolls, and after the Civil War, black men were nominally enfranchised. The democratic party of the AnteBellum south went to work with a vengeance, using poll taxes, literacy exams and even violence to discourage blacks from voting. It worked for nearly 100 years. With the passing of civil rights legislation in 1965 mostly by democrats, blacks became a factor in elections.
Of course, women finally got the vote in 1920, and became vociferous supporters of everyone's right to vote. But the GOP filled in the vacuum created by democrats who supported civil rights and ironically, the party of Lincoln is now fully into suppressing the votes of blacks, minorities and the poor. Abrams has picked a tough fight, but it is one worth taking on for the sake of future generations.
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