The Biden-Harris Administration recently kicked off a multi-city tour for a voter outreach program for black Biden-Harris voters. On a cool Saturday afternoon in early June, standing in the parking lot outside Twain's Brewpub & Billiards in Decatur, Georgia Rep. Nykema Williams, Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms took to the stage to speak to a crowd of just under two dozen supporters about voting in November.
“This campaign has not neglected any Georgian,” Williams said of the Biden-Harris administration's efforts to reach out to Black voters, a demographic crucial to the campaign's victory over then-President Donald J. Trump in 2020. Williams called Georgia's Black Democratic bloc “the backbone of the Biden-Harris administration.”
Voting for a lower-ranked candidate does not necessarily carry as much political support as it does for a presidential election, so it is not surprising that midterm elections do not attract the same voter turnout or public interest as presidential elections. However, voter turnout was extremely low in the three counties with the largest black populations in metro Atlanta — Clayton, DeKalb, and Fulton — in last month's midterm primary elections. In the same May midterm elections in Georgia, more than 514,000 votes were cast, with fewer than 100,000 cast in three of the state's seven largest counties, according to data from the Georgia Secretary of State's office.
In Clayton County, which has about 177,000 registered voters, only 13,443 people voted in the primary, according to data from the Georgia Secretary of State. The Clayton County ballot also includes a race for county sheriff, which is currently scheduled for a runoff election between current Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen and former Clayton County Commission Chairman Jeffrey Turner.
In DeKalb County, the state's fourth-largest county, 34,214 registered voters cast ballots during the midterm elections. There are more than 500,000 registered voters in DeKalb County, according to Secretary of State data.
Fulton County, Georgia's largest county, has more than 751,000 registered voters, but only 53,001 showed up to the polls in May, even though the ballot featured a sheriff's race won by a landslide by incumbent Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labatt, and a Democratic race for county district attorney won by incumbent Fani Willis.
Georgia's primary and runoff elections for federal office will take place on Tuesday, June 18. Traditionally, turnout in runoff elections is even lower than in primaries. A good example of this is the runoff election between Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens and Felicia Moore on November 30, 2021. Before his loss in the runoff, Moore had received 41% of the general election vote to Dickens' 23%, but the runoff saw a significant drop in voter participation across Fulton County.
After being out of the national and local political spotlight for some time, Bottoms said she was “rusty” but ready to marshal her support for a Biden-Harris administration. She said she was told it would be political suicide to support Biden in the 2020 presidential election, but she said she felt then, and still feels, that Biden is the right person to lead the country.
“I believe Maya Angelou's words even more because I know there are people who believe them,” Bottoms said of Trump, who was recently convicted in New York City of 34 counts of election fraud.
