ALL IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY

With 2020 bringing another polarizing presidential election, the term “voter suppression” is one that has re-emerged and been discussed a great deal. 

 In the new Amazon documentary “All In: The Fight for Democracy,”, this issue is addressed at length and in detail. A particular focus is placed on how it affected the 2018 governor’s race in the state of Georgia between Stacey Abrams and Brian Kemp. Having been produced in part by Abrams, the film unsurprisingly has a strong bias in favor of her campaign, and little- to- no rebuttal is offered by her opponent. 

At first, “All In” seems to be almost more of a biopic of Abrams herself, discussing her childhood and upbringing. The relevance of this becomes apparent, however, as she ties her candidacy to her activism in fighting against voter suppression. 

The film posits that voter suppression is an issue that has a lengthy and weighty history in our nation. In our very first presidential election, the film posits, only 6% of the nation’s occupants were allowed to vote – specifically, white, male property owners. 

With the ratification of the 15^th and 19^th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, every adult citizen of the United States should, by law, have the right to vote. However, Jim Crow laws, combined with felony disenfranchisement of voting, have long served some states to create alternative methods for disallowing certain portions of the electorate their right.  

The federal Voter’s Rights Act of 1965 served to counter some forms of voter suppression but was largely repealed by the Supreme Court in 2013 after being called an antiquated law. The movie offers examples of how many states used this decision to enact new forms of voter suppression: voter roll purges, gerrymandering (redrawing congressional district borders to heavily favor one political party over another), polling place closures in specific districts, strict identification requirements, and other measures. 

For a documentary, I found the lack of citation for some of the claims, and a dearth of rebuttal, to be a bit disturbing. I did find the historical portions, which are easily fact-checked, to be enlightening and interesting. 

All In was released on Sept. 18 on Amazon Prime video, and is free with a Prime membership. With Sept. 22 being National Voter Registration day, I found this to be a timely release. 

For more information on how to register to vote as an Oregonian, and how to make sure your vote is counted, check out The Advocate’s coverage on this issue at https://www.advocate-online.net/september-22-marks-voter-registration-day/. 

To keep informed on local election issues, and more, follow The Advocate on Twitter (@mhccadvocate).