Warnock calls on Atlanta officers to be extra clear about ‘Stop Cop City’ referendum

ATLANTA — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock on Friday urged Atlanta’s mayor to be extra clear in how metropolis officers deal with a petition drive led by opponents of a proposed police and firefighter coaching heart, saying he’s “closely monitoring” the problem.

Warnock’s letter comes after weeks of calls from “Stop Cop City” activists who had been livid that the state’s prime Democrats had stayed largely silent over the town’s plan to undertake a signature-matching verification course of. Activists and distinguished voting rights teams have decried the restriction as voter suppression.

“I am concerned by the past application of signature match in Georgia that likely led to discrimination and potentially the disenfranchisement of eligible voters,” Warnock wrote as he requested Mayor Andre Dickens greater than a dozen particular questions, together with why officers plan to make use of a signature-matching course of and the way residents can repair potential errors to stop their petition from being tossed.

“I urge the City to err on the side of giving people the ability to express their views, including by establishing clear and transparent deadlines regarding timelines and requirements and by using any discretion available to the City under the law to accept and count all lawfully collected signatures,” the senator wrote.

A spokesperson for Dickens didn’t instantly remark.

The petition drive towards the $90 million, 85-acre undertaking within the South River Forest is already the topic of an ongoing courtroom battle over whether or not it holds authorized muster, with attorneys for the town having known as the trouble “futile” and “invalid.”

Activists say they’ve gathered greater than 116,000 signatures from Atlanta residents, excess of the authorized requirement to get a referendum on a poll. But the marketing campaign’s standing was additional muddied on Monday, when organizers carrying packing containers filled with signed petitions had been shocked to be informed that the clerk was legally barred from starting the method of verifying the varieties, saying organizers had missed an Aug. 21 deadline. The deadline had been beforehand prolonged till September by a federal choose, however an appellate courtroom on Sept. 1 paused the enforcement of that order, throwing the trouble into authorized limbo.

That announcement from the town prompted a federal choose overseeing the case to accuse officers of transferring the goalposts on the marketing campaign, saying they’ve “directly contributed” to a widespread sense of confusion over the matter. In a press release responding to the choose, Atlanta officers denied having ever modified their stance on the petition drive and stated that although they don’t imagine the referendum push is legitimate, they “issued the petition in a gesture of goodwill and good faith.”

Dickens and others say the coaching facility would change insufficient coaching amenities, and would assist handle difficulties in hiring and retaining cops that worsened after nationwide protests towards police brutality and racial injustice three years in the past.