PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Democratic politician and voting rights advocate Stacey Abrams told a college crowd Wednesday that it’s time to move beyond past elections and ensure future ones are fair.
Abrams, who lost a close election for Georgia governor to Brian Kemp in 2018, told the crowd at University of New England in Portland, Maine, that it’s incumbent on Democrats to push for fair voting access and a fair census count as the 2020 election nears.
Abrams has said she would be interested in serving in a Democratic presidential administration, and said Wednesday she would be “all in” if asked to help. She also called the Democratic hopefuls an “extraordinary crop” of candidates.
“We have to stop re-litigating past elections and have to start planning for future elections,” Abrams said.
Abrams told the crowd of about 900 people that combating voter suppression will be especially important in 2020. Voters ID laws, “use it or lose it” rules, efforts to purge voting roles, and other tactics could prove punitive to marginalized communities if voting rights advocates aren’t vigilant, she said.
Maine has fewer barriers to voting than many other states, but even that is a relatively recently development, Abrams said.
Abrams served nearly 10 years in the Georgia House of Representatives before running for governor. She founded Fair Fight, a voting access organization.
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