STORIES FROM THE FIELD: With One Week Until Election Day, Georgia Voters Are Motivated to Restore Abortion Access

With just one week until Election Day and early voting already underway, millions of Georgians are casting their ballots for candidates who will restore and protect reproductive rights, including abortion.

Planned Parenthood advocacy and political organizations are on the ground engaging with voters in Georgia as part of their 2022 electoral program, “Take Control,” the groups’ largest-ever investment in an electoral cycle. Canvassers are hard at work across the Peach State to ensure that voters know when, where, and how to vote this year — including by mail, early in-person, and at the polls on Tuesday, November 8 — and which candidates will support their reproductive freedom and bodily autonomy.

Planned Parenthood Votes canvassers engage with voters across Georgia

As evidenced by poll after poll, abortion is a key motivating issue for voters in this election, and it’s personal for Georgians who have had their rights stripped away under Gov. Brian Kemp’s six-week abortion ban.

But don’t just take our word for it — read on to hear what Georgia voters are telling Planned Parenthood Votes canvassers across the state:

• One voter was pleasantly surprised to see Planned Parenthood Votes canvassers in her neighborhood, telling them that “a lot of folks don’t care about our vote here.”
• A delivery driver stopped to ask canvassers what they were doing and was happy to learn they were talking to Georgians on behalf of Planned Parenthood Votes — so happy that he signed up to volunteer himself.
• One canvasser spoke with a woman who said she was voting differently in this election than she ever had in her life because she cared more about the overturning of Roe v. Wade than about loyalty to any political party.
• “You have all my support,” a 73-year-old voter told canvassers. “Continue fighting for our rights. People like you make the difference.”
• A canvasser spoke to an undecided voter who said she was confused and overwhelmed, so the canvasser explained the voting process and even helped find her polling location. The voter expressed gratitude that someone took time to talk to her and confirmed she would definitely get to the polls on Election Day.
• “Kemp is not representing Georgia and we have to get him out,” one voter said. Others echoed his concern and told canvassers they were voting across their traditional party lines because they viewed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as a step backward.
• Many folks were excited to report they had already voted early, and a visit from canvassers inspired one voter to text her friend group a reminder to get to the polls.
• Others happily confirmed their plans to vote by November 8: “Yes ma’am, I am registered to vote and will be exercising my voting rights,” one DeKalb County voter told a canvasser. “I’m taking my grandbaby with me so he can see me vote and knows the importance of voting.”
• A woman from Norway was concerned about the country’s future since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but she couldn’t vote because of her citizenship. By the end of the conversation, she asked the canvasser for literature to give to her partner and son, both U.S. citizens, to ensure they were registered and ready to vote this year.

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Planned Parenthood Votes is an independent expenditure political committee registered with the Federal Election Commission and an independent committee registered with the Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission.