随着2024年大选的临近，投票权倡导者正在从2020年的选举中吸取教训，以维护佐治亚州富尔顿县等地区选民的权利，前总统唐纳德·特朗普在那里被起诉所谓的努力推翻上次总统选举的结果。
特朗普和其他人根据佐治亚州的敲诈勒索法(RICO)被起诉，涉嫌试图推翻该州2020年的选举结果。
这包括，除其他指控外，涉嫌阴谋投假选举团票，并作出关于投票舞弊的虚假陈述。特朗普的竞选团队对这些指控做出回应，称其为“非美国”和“错误的”。他否认了所有不法行为。
倡导者说，这项起诉标志着这个州的进步，这个州已经成为投票权斗争的中心，但这场斗争仍在继续，努力扩大居民的投票权。
“这一时刻很重要，因为这意味着这种行为在我们的民主中没有立足之地，人们将为自己的行为负责，”投票权倡导组织公平斗争(Fair Fight)的执行董事钱蒂·斯图尔特-里德(Cianti Stewart-Reid)说。
“他们有权在每次选举中表达自己的意见，这是我们将在公平竞争中继续做的工作，”她继续说道。
佐治亚州曾经是共和党在选举期间的大本营——2016年，特朗普以超过20万张选票的优势赢得了该州。然而，近年来，随着乔·拜登(Joe Biden)总统、乔恩·奥索夫(Jon Ossoff)和拉斐尔·沃诺克(Raphael Warnock)等民主党人的当选，佐治亚州已经巩固了自己作为一个摇摆州的地位。
“(特朗普)真的无法相信格鲁吉亚已经转变，”佐治亚大学政治学教授查尔斯·布洛克告诉美国广播公司新闻。“共和党顾问告诉我的是，他们在2020年夏天和秋天告诉特朗普竞选团队，‘不要以为佐治亚州是共和党的银行’，以及‘这是一个不同的州，已经变得更具竞争力。’他们告诉我的是他们的信息没有被传递。"
与此同时，佐治亚州已经成为争取投票权的中心，这是因为草根阶层推动了投票权活动人士所称的反对压制投票法的行动，以及让有色人种居民进行登记和投票的共同努力。
投票权团体新佐治亚项目行动基金的首席执行官肯德拉·达文波特·科顿说:“佐治亚州一直是美国政治中涉及权力的焦点。”。
2020年6月佐治亚州的初选问题缠身排长队、工人短缺、投票开始时间推迟以及投票机问题，这些都凸显了该州长期存在的困难。
科顿说，对于2020年的总统选举，“我们想尽了一切办法”。
“我们敲了200多万户人家的门。我们能够动员我们的团体，让他们出来，”她补充说。
几个团体说他们帮助注册成千上万的格鲁吉亚人投票，以打击他们所谓的压制选举的做法。
公平竞赛创始人斯泰西·艾布拉姆斯是通常被认为随着民主党在2020年选举中的成功，成为一个主要的投票权数字。她两次作为民主党候选人竞选佐治亚州州长都失败了。
佐治亚州投票支持现任总统乔·拜登。他以将近12000票的优势获胜。
2023年8月3日，弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿，前总统唐纳德·特朗普在罗纳德·里根华盛顿国家机场机场走下飞机时挥手致意。
亚历克斯·布兰登/美联社，文件
斯图尔特-里德说:“在一个多种族、多代选民和倡导者的联盟在2020年赢得选举后，这些扩大投票机会的努力遭到了如此令人难以置信的抵制和攻击，这不是巧合。”。
据统计，自2016年以来，黑人、拉美裔和亚裔美国选民一直是佐治亚州登记选民增长的关键皮尤研究中心.
根据2020年美国人口普查，富尔顿县有45%的黑人，38%的白人，8%的亚裔和7%的西班牙裔或拉丁裔。
展望2024年，随着政治家们努力赢得数百万张选票，佐治亚州很可能再次成为争论的焦点。随着SB 202法案的通过和实施彻底修订的地方选举法活动人士和专家表示，所有人都在关注下一次选举。
“佐治亚州投了几个民主党人的票——乔·拜登、乔恩·奥索夫，他们两次投了拉斐尔·沃诺克的票。这是否使佐治亚州成为一个蓝色州?绝对不是，”布洛克说。
随着这些投票权之争在实地继续，倡导者们表示，这项起诉让人们对确保选民在选举中的声音得到倾听有了更强的信心。
“归根结底，这不仅仅是一个关于唐纳德·特朗普的故事。斯图尔特-里德说:“这关系到他试图破坏的那些人的选票，数百万格鲁吉亚人排着长队来到投票站投票，让他们的声音被听到。”。
Trump indictment spotlights Georgia voting rights movement, activists say
As the 2024 election draws near, voting rights advocates are taking lessons from the 2020 elections to safeguard the rights of voters in areas like Fulton County, Georgia, where former President Donald Trump was indicted foralleged effortsto overturn the results of the last presidential election.
Trump and others were indicted under Georgia's racketeering law, or RICO, related to alleged efforts to overturn 2020 election results in the state.
This includes, among other claims, allegedly conspiring to cast false Electoral College votes, and making false statements concerning voting fraud. Trump's campaign responded to the charges by calling them "un-American" and "wrong." He has denied all wrongdoing.
Advocates say the indictment signals progress in a state that has become central to the voting rights fight, but the battle continues in efforts to expand access to voting for residents.
"This moment is important because it means that there's no place for this behavior in our democracy and that people will be held accountable for their actions,” said Cianti Stewart-Reid, the executive director of voting rights advocacy group Fair Fight.
"They have the right to have their voices heard in every election and that's the work that we will continue to do at Fair Fight," she continued.
Georgia used to be a Republican stronghold during elections -- in 2016, Trump won the state by more than 200,000 votes. However, in recent years, Georgia has solidified itself as a swing state following the election of Democrats like President Joe Biden, and Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock.
"[Trump] really couldn't believe that Georgia had flipped," Charles Bullock, a political science professor at the University of Georgia, told ABC News. "What I've been told by Republican consultants is that they were telling the Trump campaign, in the summer and fall of 2020, 'don't just assume Georgia is in the bank for Republicans' and 'this is a different state that has become much more competitive.' And what they tell me is their message was not getting through."
Simultaneously, Georgia has become the epicenter of the fight for voting rights due to a grassroots push what voting rights activists call against suppressive voting laws and a concerted effort to get residents of color registered and to the polls.
"Georgia has consistently been kind of a focal point in American politics where power is concerned," said Kendra Davenport Cotton, the CEO of voting rights group New Georgia Project Action Fund.
A primary election in Georgia in June of 2020 wasplagued with problems-- long lines, worker shortages, delayed poll openings and voting machines issues -- which highlighted longstanding difficulties in the state.
For the presidential election in 2020, "we left no stone unturned," said Cotton.
"We knocked on over 2 million doors. We were able to mobilize our groups, get them out," she added.
Several groups say they helped registerhundreds of thousandsof Georgians to vote in recent years to combat election practices they call suppressive.
Fair Fight founder Stacey Abrams isoften creditedwith Democrats' electoral successes in 2020, becoming a major voting rights figure. She unsuccessfully campaigned twice as the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor.
Georgia voted in favor of now-President Joe Biden. He won by nearly 12,000 votes.
"It is no coincidence that after a multiracial, multigenerational coalition of voters and advocates came together in 2020 to win the election, that there has been such incredible pushback and attack on those efforts to expand access to the ballot," said Stewart-Reid.
Black, Latino and Asian American voters have been key to Georgia’s registered voter growth since 2016, according to thePew Research Center.
Fulton County is 45% Black, 38% white, 8% Asian and 7% Hispanic or Latino, according to the 2020 U.S. Census.
Looking forward to 2024, Georgia is likely to be the center of contention once again, as politicians fight to win the votes of millions. With the passage and implementation of SB 202, a sweeping elections bill thatoverhauled local election laws, activists and experts say all eyes are on the next election.
"Georgia voted for several Democrats -- Joe Biden, Jon Ossoff and they voted for Raphael Warnock twice. Does that make Georgia a blue state? Absolutely not," Bullock said.
As these voting rights battles continue on the ground, advocates say the indictment gives a stronger sense of confidence in ensuring voters are heard in elections.
"Ultimately, this is not a story just about Donald Trump. It's about the people whose vote he was trying to undermine, the millions of Georgians who waited in long lines and showed up to the polls to cast their ballot and have their voices heard," Stewart-Reid said.
