In Georgia, a battle over minority voting
09/23/14 11:15 AM


By Zachary Roth


In Georgia, minority voices are finally threatening to be heard at the ballot box after more than a century of being marginalized by the political process. And conservatives are ramping up a campaign to stop them. With the state hosting a tight U.S. Senate race, Democratic hopes of holding onto the chamber could depend on which side prevails in the battle over minority voting.

Driving that battle are stark numbers: Georgia, which has seen big demographic shifts over the last decade, has nearly 900,000 unregistered minority voters, around 80% of whom would be expected to vote Democratic. Mitt Romney’s 2012 margin of victory over President Obama in the state was just 305,000 votes.

Behind those numbers is a demographic shift comparable to Texas’s more celebrated transformation. A huge influx this century of African-Americans from other states, and strong growth in the Hispanic and Asian populations, have combined to put Georgia’s whites at risk of minority status. By last year, they made up just 55% of the state’s total population, down from 72% in 1980. Even Republicans recently hired a “minority engagement director,” The New York Times reported.

The shifts have Democrats emboldened. Georgia hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 2000, but polls show Michelle Nunn, this year’s Democratic candidate, virtually tied with Republican David Perdue. Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, also is facing a strong challenge from Democrat Jason Carter.