--- title: Republican Voter Supression in the Midterms is a Disgrace description: Elise Jordan, a former speechwriter, explains the shame of what Brian Kemp, Rick Scott and President Trump have done in these elections canonical: https://time.com/5455179/georgia-brian-kemp-voter-suppression-recount-republicans-trump/ author: Elise Jordan article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-11-15T14:26:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:06:21.628Z article:section: Ideas og:title: I’ve Worked in Republican Politics. The Party’s Voter Suppression in the Midterms Has Been a Disgrace og:description: To tolerate this disenfranchisement is to be complicit in the worst of this nation’s past, writes Elise Jordan og:url: https://time.com/5455179/georgia-brian-kemp-voter-suppression-recount-republicans-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04c714b1e07b041f/69893f2ee76ad2a989633832/181126020788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Midterm Election Georgia Voting og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: I’ve Worked in Republican Politics. The Party’s Voter Suppression in the Midterms Has Been a Disgrace twitter:description: To tolerate this disenfranchisement is to be complicit in the worst of this nation’s past, writes Elise Jordan twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt04c714b1e07b041f/69893f2ee76ad2a989633832/181126020788.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # I’ve Worked in Republican Politics. The Party’s Voter Suppression in the Midterms Has Been a Disgrace > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=d59224b4-90a2-4b09-8868-c324c79f4fcf&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Redder. Bluer. Trumpier. America Is About to Be Even More Divided [Watch (HLS stream): Redder. Bluer. Trumpier. America Is About to Be Even More Divided](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2Gr7iLqd.m3u8) (2:54)  _Published 2018-11-09. By the time Nancy Pelosi took the stage at the Hyatt Regency in Washington on Election Day, it was nearly midnight and the panic had passed._  by [Elise Jordan](https://time.com/author/elise-jordan/)  ## Elise Jordan Nov 15, 2018 2:26 PM UTC  by [Elise Jordan](https://time.com/author/elise-jordan/)  ## Elise Jordan Nov 15, 2018 2:26 PM UTC A Republican operative of otherwise dubious election-year morality once told me his red line: strategies that attempt voter suppression must be rejected, always. Your candidate should not win by embracing tactics that represent the antithesis of democracy. Not in 2018\. Not in America. And especially not in the Deep South. The region’s blighted history of oppression against African Americans reveals what such a strategy truly is and why we must reject it. During my time in Republican politics, I overlooked plenty of unseemly partisan warfare. But the voter suppression of our citizens that we’ve seen this year is something that no American can ignore. A representative for Republican candidate for governor [Brian Kemp](http://time.com/5451420/kemp-abrams-concede-georgia-governor/) called his opponent Stacey Abrams’ unwillingness to concede before all votes were counted “a disgrace to democracy.” But leaders like Kemp are the real disgrace. Abrams engaged new voters; in turn, Kemp openly said he’d like to suppress their participation. Kemp was also running while serving as secretary of state, the office that oversees elections, and [resigned](http://time.com/5449113/georgia-governor-brian-kemp-secretary-state-resigns/) two days after balloting, only when challenged by a lawsuit. Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t easy to vote in Georgia, because of broken voting machines, or functional machines with missing power cords, or too few machines—and, at the very least, hours-long lines. (A U.S. District judge characterized of Kemp’s leadership in a ruling on Georgia’s readiness: “The Defendants and State election officials had buried their heads in the sand.”) If all this had occurred in Iraq or Afghanistan or Zimbabwe, American election monitors would protest the result. But it happened here, in districts across the United States. Consider the rule that any Mississippians wishing to vote absentee in the Nov. 27 runoff would need to notarize their ballot during the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. Complicated voting procedures like these—designed to stunt turnout—are the modern-day equivalent of a poll tax. Worse still, the responses of Republican officials, including the President, have made it clear that they missed the civics lesson explaining that elections need to be perceived as free and fair to establish the legitimacy of elected leadership. So far, the rare member of the party involved in a close contest who has acted in a manner worthy of that mandate is one who will not be serving: with her gracious concession, Arizona Senate candidate [Martha McSally](http://time.com/5453278/mcsally-sinema-dog/) has been the lone outlier in a sea of Republicans crying fraud. **That an estimated** 113 million people—an increase of 30 million voters from the 2014 midterms—still turned out, despite this mess, demonstrated that Americans want to do their part. In Florida, citizens even expanded the number of people who can participate by reinstating the right to vote to 1.4 million former felons. This devotion deserves a fair process. The needed reform isn’t that complex. People like Kemp—and his counterparts in Kansas and Ohio who did the same, plus Florida Governor [Rick Scott](http://time.com/5451363/florida-recount-governor-senate/)—have no business refereeing an election in which they’re competing. Resign-to-run, or even recuse-to-run, laws should be universal. Additionally, former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson has rightly suggested election infrastructure be categorized as critical, like the electric grid. And though I lean libertarian, I would also like to see a new national commission on voting; too many local and state authorities have a proven track record of incompetency. This is not about abstract ideals. It is about how people live. These communities have paid with their lives and livelihoods throughout history to gain the right to vote. We cannot repay them with broken systems. In her seminal work, The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander writes that racism “functions naturally, almost invisibly (and sometimes with genuinely benign intent), when it is embedded in the structure of a social system.” To tolerate this disenfranchisement is to be complicit in the worst of this nation’s past. I keep thinking about what Barbara Williams, a 58-year-old African-American retiree in Georgia, told the Associated Press. “It was important for me to vote … I’m a human being, and I have a life, and [I try for it to be better](https://www.apnews.com/20cc0e132d9140f48423836f26219d81).” Those words are clarifying: anything short of counting every vote is an abnegation of America’s founding promise as a nation built on the consent of the governed. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] The midterm elections marked a significant shift in American politics. Democrats reclaim the House of Representatives, while Republicans strengthen their report on the Senator. But digging farther to how won shows how different the new Congress will be. [ MUSIC ] The number of women in the House of Representatives will reach an historic high when new members are sworn in next January largely due to Democrats. More than 30 House of Representatives seats went to female candidates this year as a record number of women ran for Congress. Many of the women say they were inspired to run by Donald Trump's win in 2016 and his behavior as president since then. 29- year- old Alexandria Ocasio- Cortez is now the youngest elected member. And Democrats Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota will become the first Muslim women in Congress. [ UNKNOWN ] Democrat Sherice Davids of Kansas and Deb Holland of New Mexico gained victories as the first Native American women to be voted into congress while republican Marsha Blackburn will become the first female senator from Tennessee. [ MUSIC ] 2018 is shaping- up to be historic for voter turnout as well. Early numbers indicate approximately 114 million votes cast, much higher than the 83 million cast in 2014. With control of Congress at stake, turns out was high among both Democrats and Republicans eager to make their stamp on Trump's next two years in office. Popular ballot measures and voting rights, abortion and marijuana also contributed. [ MUSIC ] Trump was not on the ballot, but many voters acted as he was. The president heavy campaigning in red states appeared to help Republican candidates over the line. At the same time, the President's unpopularity drove turnout in many Democratic areas, and appeared to hurt Republican house candidates running in the suburbs of major cities. As democrats clean the house a the incoming chairs of 21 committees will be looking for ways to press forward on investigations they feel more ignored under the Republic in majority. This is likely to include likes Trump's personal financial conflicts as well as as well as controversies around members of his administration such as. Former EPA director Scott Pruitt. Some Democratic veterans have urged restraint, arguing that the new House majority should take its time to work through the most urgent investigations and avoid the appearance of a free for all. Trump argued that investigations would harm any ability for him to work with the Democrats on bipartisan legislation on infrastructure and other issues. The 2018 mid- terms may be over but the repercussions from election night will be felt for years to come. 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