Georgia Democrats push ‘souls to the polls’ with Sunday voting

The Rev. Raphael Warnock

Credit: Greg Bluestein

Credit: Greg Bluestein

The Rev. Raphael Warnock

Georgia Democrats are hoping to make the most of voting on Sunday, with plans to mobilize thousands of voters to head directly from church pews to the polls to back Hillary Clinton.

The rapper 2 Chainz and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of Ebenzer Baptist Church, will headline a cookout at a Fulton County voting site on Sunday, one of several events scattered around the state.

"History has proven that traditional Election Day turnouts have trended weak in both black and brown communities,” said Warnock. “We have chosen this last Sunday to pull churches, ordinary citizens, and other community organizations together to participate in advance voting.”

The 2014 election was the first time authorities opened the polls to voters on Sunday and more than 12,000 ballots were cast during that election. Democrats hope to boost that total this year, including a plan to bus at least 300 voters from Ebenezer to the polls after services Sunday.

Some Republicans called for a ban on Sunday voting, casting it as an unfair advantage for Democrats, but the plan never gained traction. This year at least eight counties, many of them Democratic strongholds, have opened their polls on Sunday: Chatham, Clayton, DeKalb, Dougherty, Fulton, Henry, Muscogee and Richmond.

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