Midtown in the Middle

For residents of Fulton County and Midtown, the Trump indictments have drawn personal sentiments, as people feel tied to the case through the conversation about their voting rights. 

On Aug. 24, as Trump surrendered at Fulton County Jail, several Georgia residents stood on the adjacent streets to witness the historic event. Evan Smith, a Lakeside High School graduate and Fulton County resident, held a sign that read “Finally Trump Arrested! Again and again!” near the entrance to the jail. He said his connection to the case compelled him to come out. 

“When Donald Trump came in and called the Secretary of State of Georgia [Brad Raffensberg] saying, ‘I want 11,780 votes,’ he directly called and asked to throw out my mom’s vote, my grandma’s vote, my grandpa’s vote, and all my great aunts and uncles’ votes,” Smith said. “With that one call, he announced that we don’t have the same rights that he has.”

This call from Trump to Raffensburg on Jan. 2, 2021, during which Trump urged Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to overturn Georgia’s election results and threatened Raffensperger if he failed to do so, sparked Atlanta residents to understand the small margins that were in this case.

“Your vote matters,” Atlanta City Councilman and Grady alumnus Matt Westmoreland said. “I think sometimes that can be harder to believe, at the national level. But when you look at just how narrow the margin was in Georgia, that means votes everywhere, Midtown included, are really valuable and important.”

After collaborating with the school’s chapter of “When We All Vote,” a nonpartisan, national organization for voting advocacy, senior and President of Midtown Votes Imani Johnson along with fellow club members registered over 400 youth to vote in the 2022-2023 acedemic school year. Equating to about three percent of the votes Trump referenced to Brad Raffensburger, this put into perspective for Johnson the importance of the youth vote in upcoming cases in Georgia. 

“Youth have the ability to reshape the way our society and government as a whole is run,” Johnson said. “If students and teens all around don’t enjoy the way that the world and our country is being run, then it is up to us to change it, and that starts with a vote.”

Janis Simms, resident of Blairsville, Georgia, has stood in solidarity with Trump at numerous events. However, in this particular case, she is valuing her own voting rights over the verdict in favor of the former president.

“I have real questions about the state of the security of Georgia voting,” Simms said. “I just want it to be an honest, valid election and [allow] the people decide. I just want my voice to be heard.”

Some other residents of Fulton County share a similar point of view. Amistad Aromad walked down the street from his house to bear witness at the Fulton County Jail to the case because he felt Trump’s claims affected his personal rights.

“To hear him make a phone call asking for votes was just an invalidation of my personal vote,” Aromad said. “I believe that everyone has the right to vote, and I believe this indictment is a stand for justice, just like Atlanta’s long history of democracy and justice.”