“If the power of the right to vote was truly made available to everyone in America, it would change the future of the nation.”
These chilling words from Stacey Abrams open the trailer for Prime Video’s new documentary “All In: The Fight For Democracy.”
In the film, Georgia state legislator Stacey Abrams chronicles her 2018 run for Georgia state governor. Early on, she shared that she believed voter suppression would play a key role in the race for governor and she was right. All In gives viewers an inside look at the race, and the events that subsequently led up to her loss to Republican Brian Kemp.
“The system that is supposed to protect our democracy didn’t work the way it was supposed to,” says Abrams.
In the trailer, Georgia citizens shared their voting experiences, which included being suddenly purged from the polls. Unfortunately, Americans in other states also chime in and share similar stories. Others went through extremes such as waiting an upwards of 5 hours to vote. This inconvenience is often the result of geographically targeted suppression. Often, areas with concentrated people of color will have fewer places to vote. It discourages voting in those areas because people shouldn’t need to wait more than an hour. Those voters are practically encouraged to walk away from the line rather than wait that long.
It’s not difficult to see that we are facing the same issues in 2020 that Stacey faced in 2018. The current presidential administration has been accused of voter suppression by slowing down operations at the US Postal Service. Mail tampering at the post office discourages Americans from submitting their mail-in ballots. Considering the times, the Postal Service is a crucial resource particularly because of the pandemic. Many feel it is unsafe to leave their homes for fear of contracting COVID-19. Voting this year has literally become a life or death issue, with no resolution in sight.
To live in a democracy is to deserve the right to vote. The ability to vote is a different story.
Check the must-see trailer here.
