September 19, 2023
For Immediate Release
New Georgia Project
40,000 Strong: New Georgia Project Celebrates Milestone on National Voter Registration Day with Day of Action
(Atlanta, Georgia) – Today, New Georgia Project (NGP) is proud to celebrate National Voter Registration Day by hosting over 20 voter registration actions across the state—including in Albany, Athens, Atlanta, Augusta, Brunswick, Columbus, Macon, Savannah, and Valdosta. The organization is also marking this holiday with an exciting achievement: New Georgia Project has helped more than 40,000 Georgians register to vote in 2023, meeting and exceeding the organization’s yearly goal. Even more remarkably, NGP has helped over 100,000 Georgians register to vote in just the last three years.
“Registering 100,000 voters is no small feat,” says Kendra Cotton, CEO of New Georgia Project. “At a time when our state leaders are committed to purging voters by the hundreds of thousands and presidential elections are being decided by barely twelve thousand votes, every single voter added to the rolls matters. It’s a numbers game, and New Georgia Project is committed to expanding Georgia’s electorate. We’re focused on including Georgians who have been historically left out, which is why it is especially important that of the more than 40,000 Georgians NGP has added to the voter rolls this year, 79% are Black and 50% are under the age of 25. I have no doubt that young and Black Georgians will decide the outcome of the 2024 election and that the voters we’ve worked hard to bring into the political process will make all the difference.”
This National Voter Registration Day, and throughout the week, New Georgia Project staff and volunteers will be meeting Georgians where they are—from recreation centers and libraries to high schools and college campuses—to get them registered and ready to use their voices in the 2024 presidential election, and also in key upcoming municipal elections this fall. On the ballot this November are mayors, city council members, sheriffs, and more in the majority of Georgia’s 159 counties. It is imperative that all Georgians understand the impacts of these offices on their communities and the power of their own vote in hiring—and firing—their elected leaders.
“Voter registration is a vital first step in our pipeline to progress,” says Keron Blair, Chief Organizing and Field Officer at New Georgia Project. “But it’s not just about registering people; it’s also about everything that comes after that—keeping them engaged, sharing information and resources, connecting the dots from the issues impacting their lives to those on the ballot. This is how we build power and turn voters out the way we have these past few years. When we talk to Georgia voters, we hear from high school students excited to turn 18 and be eligible to vote for the first time, we hear from formerly incarcerated folks who know what it feels like to have their right to vote taken away, and we hear from long-time, steadfast voters who wouldn’t dream of missing an election. National Voter Registratoin Day is an opportunity to not only engage these voters, but to celebrate them and their commitment to shaping our collective future.”
New Georgia Project invites members of the press to join us in person all over the state or in conversation virtually as we help even more Georgians register to vote today and every day until the October 10 voter registration deadline. Happy National Voter Registration Day!
