Georgia State Sen. Nikema Williams was one of several people arrested Tuesday when a protest broke out at the Georgia State Capitol, WSB-TV reported.
Noise erupted as sign-toting protesters chanted “no justice, no peace” and demanded that every vote be counted in the hotly contested governor’s race, which has yet to be decided. By Wednesday morning Democrat Stacey Abrams was still gaining ground on Republican Brian Kemp as provisional and absentee ballots continued to be counted, with Kemp’s lead narrowing from 50.28 percent of the vote to 50.23 percent in the three-person race.
Sen. Nikema Williams was arrested at the Georgia State Capitol on Tuesday for failing to disperse. (Photo by Richard Elliot /WSB-TV)
In a campaign that was marked by claims that Kemp — who was Georgia’s top elections official as secretary of state until he resigned from the post two days after Election Day —engaged in statewide voter suppression, the Abrams camp maintains that only a complete count of all the outstanding provisional and absentee ballots in the state will determine whether the Democrat can pick up enough votes to narrow her deficit of approximately 55,000 votes and force a runoff election, which would be triggered if no candidate gains 50 percent of the vote and at least one additional vote.
WSB-TV reporter Richard Elliot was there as Capitol police arrested Williams along with several other protesters. In a video posted to Twitter, Williams explains she was arrested for failing to disperse.
“I’m being arrested because I refused to leave the floor of a body I serve in,” she said. “I am a state senator. I was not yelling. I was not chanting. I stood peacefully next to my constituents because they wanted their voices to be heard, and now I’m being arrested.”
Demonstrators are heard shouting “let her go” as officers placed the senator in zip tie-style restraints.
It’s unclear how many people were arrested or the charges they face.
Watch more in the clips below.
We stand with our First Vice Chair @NikemaForSenate who was arrested today while representing her constituents and fighting to #CountEveryVote pic.twitter.com/YdAh0VZuT7
— Georgia Democrats (@GeorgiaDemocrat) November 13, 2018
https://www.facebook.com/RichardElliotWSBTV/videos/249715195706539/
