Nonprofits strain to support voters in Georgia Senate race

People wait in line to early vote for the U.S. Senate runoff election in Georgia between Sen. Raphael Warnock and challenger Herschel Walker, on Monday, Nov. 28, 2022, in Kennesaw, Ga., near Atlanta. Nonprofit organizations in Georgia are digging deep to ramp up their operations again after Election Day to inform voters about the closely watched runoff race for one of the state's Senate seats. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart, File)

When the closely watched Georgia Senate race went to a runoff, nonprofit organizations that educate voters strained to ramp up operations again after Election Day.

“It’s not just, ‘Find new canvassers and recruit new volunteers.’ It’s also, ‘Find new money,’” said Kendra Cotton, CEO of New Georgia Project — founded by Stacey Abrams, the Democrat who lost her second campaign to become the state’s governor last month. The project’s goal was to raise $1 million to inform voters about the runoff, help them find out where and how to vote through phone banking and text banking, as well as voter protection at the polls. As of Monday, they have raised $797,000.

Grassroots groups have missed the mark in educating donors, Cotton said, explaining that she’ll hear from even high dollar donors that they don’t need to donate to her group because they’ve already given to Abrams or to Democrat Sen. Raphael Warnock, who will take on Republican challenger Herschel Walker in the runoff.