How online and offline base building is the strategy to win

The 2024 elections are right around the corner and I don’t know about you, but I’m looking to organizations like Protect the Vote Georgia for guidance especially when it comes to navigating voter suppression. Let’s be real, whether it is a presidential election or a ballot measure – voting restrictions are a tactic to make sure our people are not able to make change. We know it’s not about “fraud” or preserving democracy. The legislators who put forward voting restriction laws want to make it as hard as possible for Black and brown people to participate in voting, hoping we just give up. Despite the long history of trying to exclude communities of color from participating in elections, Protect the Vote Georgia isn’t giving up.

Georgia is a particularly difficult place to organize voting efforts – both online and offline. Offline, there are a slew of state laws that legislators have passed to make voting harder, including criminalizing the provision of food and water to those waiting in line, And online, because of how Georgia’s lawmakers have changed voting process, organizations like Protect the Vote GA have to combat everything from voter’s fear to confusion to targeted disinformation. 

Despite it all, I was really inspired to hear how Protect the Vote GA has been learning and applying strategies from the Fellowship to build a diverse base of folks who will be protecting the vote this year. 

Take a read through below for the full story.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Will you introduce yourself and what you do at Protect the Vote Georgia?

My name is Crystal Greer, pronouns she, her, and hers. I'm the proud co-founder of Protect the Vote GA in collaboration with my two other sisters Joy Gebresilassie and Britt Burns. We are three Black women residing in Georgia. My role currently is Co-Executive Director and Director of Programs and Media, so I have a lot of responsibility right now during this election year, but it's been really good to get on top of these most pressing issues in Georgia to get some voters to show up.

Speaking of those pressing issues, I want to dig into what issues you're fighting for and what communities are being impacted from your vantage point in Georgia?

So one of the biggest pressing issues are voter rights. [Republican state legislators] are constantly trying to reverse the progression we’ve made to make voting easier for election workers, voters, and admin all the way around in Georgia. And currently anyone in the state is allowed to challenge as many voters that they want in all of our 159 counties. And so the reason why we joined the Kairos Fellowship is so that we can build out a robust democracy ambassador program, where we are building our base and finding those people to build out an election monitoring and protection program.

I had no idea that anyone could challenge or accuse any amount of voters of fraud in all of Georgia.

That was a part of SB 202. And the whole reason Protect the Vote GA started was because that bill passed after we had protested 30 days straight, calling national and local attention to the issue. 

As a newer organization, we're really trying to find ways to build our base because we understand that folks feel the same way that we do. But because of voter suppression, they don't have the resources to (a) know that we exist or (b) know when an election is happening or how to vote, because the laws have been changed so much. Voters who were used to voting by mail now have new restrictions in doing so, which is causing them to opt out of the whole voting process altogether, because they already can't vote in person sometimes because of their household obligations or work obligations. So, you know, we understand how bad it is and how much work we have to do and how much building our base is a priority so that we can get the work done.

Voting restrictions are obviously affecting everybody, all voters. However, you just named something that I want to dig into a little bit. You said there are voters who have family obligations or that might be taking care of someone. There are voters who might be living with disabilities, meaning that they can't physically make it to the polls. And those issues also often intersect with Black and brown folks, with poor folks, and with queer folks. 

What are the communities that are being hit hard by what's going on and what type of base are you trying to build?

So, the exact communities you named. The communities of color, communities of disabled folks, and the LGBTQ+ community, all of them are being targeted with these tactics. If voting was embedded in your culture already or you never had to fight for the right to vote, you're voting with no problems, but folks like women, Black women, women of color have to continue to fight for our right to vote.

I just think that [voter suppression] has recently heightened due to the outcome of the election in 2020. When folks showed up in record numbers, there was a push to suppress even more, because they saw that organizations like Protect the Vote GA worked in coalition to turn out the vote. And so it is really important for us to build our base within those communities, so that they feel related to. 

We even have communities where ballots aren't being printed in their language. That is why it's important for us to build our base so that we can get folks to tackle language access, get folks to tackle voter challenges, and get folks to tackle monitoring. So there's just a variety of fights happening all at once.

Jelani: How have you been able to apply the things you've learned thus far to the work that you're doing?

When it comes to digital organizing, we've been able to apply a lot from the Kairos Fellowship.  And hearing other organizations’ stories hits home a lot for me. My best takeaway from the Fellowship happened while I was on a call with organizations across the country who are experiencing similar issues and learning from the tactics that they were able to do. Kairos providing those case studies was mind blowing for me. It was able to give me hope and also give me access to tools I didn't know existed before.

What do you think the internet is good for?

The internet is good for base building, education, taking action and telling stories.

Building a strong base is so important to the longevity of our movement. And this has to happen offline and online. For Protect the Vote Georgia, they are learning from the Fellowship’s case studies and using digital organizing to build a diverse base in order to take on elections and successfully navigate a variety of voting challenges in the state. And it’s clear, because Crystal said at the end, Fellows are truly believing in the power of the internet. It’s not just a tool but a place for organization, political education, and finding our people.