Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Nobody will ever deprive the American people of the right to vote except the American people themselves and the only way they could do this is by not voting.”
Unfortunately, Roosevelt was wrong. The 2018 gubernatorial race in Georgia was an egregious example of deliberate voter suppression. Tens of thousands of voters — most of them people of color, immigrants, or others likely to vote for the Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams — were systematically disenfranchised in an election administered by Brian Kemp, then Georgia’s Secretary of State, who also happened to be Abrams’ Republican opponent for the governorship.
What happened in Georgia in 2018 is the subject of a new documentary, Suppressed: The Fight to Vote, which will be screened on Tuesday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m., in the second-floor Veterans Room at the Oak Park Public Library main branch, 834 Lake St.
Think it can’t happen here? The fight to ensure fair elections in Cook County and Illinois will be the subject of a panel discussion following the screening, featuring Tonya Rice, director of Elections for the Cook County Clerk’s Office; Liliana Scales, director of Advocacy at Change Illinois; Jay Young, executive director of Common Cause Illinois; and Paula Lawson, redistricting issues specialist for the Illinois League of Women Voters. Cosponsored by the League of Women Voters of Oak Park-River Forest and the Oak Park Public Library, this event is free and open to all. Please join us.
Wendy Greenhouse
Oak Park
