By Zach Goins
September 6, 2020
With just under two months left until Election Day, it seems like voting information can be found everywhere you look– and now you’ll be able to find it on the big screen, too.
On Wednesday, September 9, two North Carolina drive-in theaters will debut free screenings of Amazon Studios’ upcoming documentary, All In: The Fight for Democracy. Albemarle’s Badin Drive-In and Kings Mountain’s Hounds Drive-In will each screen the film, which tackles the injustice of voter suppression that’s plagued the United States.
At the center of the documentary is Stacey Abrams, the former gubernatorial candidate from Georgia, who lost a narrow election in 2018 to Brian Kemp, who was accused of illegally purging voter registrations of over 300,000 Georgians, most of whom were minorities. Since then, Abrams has founded a voting rights nonprofit organization called Fair Fight Action that works to combat voter suppression in Georgia and across the nation. All In shows how Abrams is using her first-hand experience and that of other activists, as well as historical instances of voter corruption, to bring the conversation into the spotlight ahead of November’s presidential election.
Voter suppression can come in many forms, from strict voter photo ID laws to intentionally long wait times, or even purging registered voters. One especially corrupt practice is gerrymandering, the manipulation of voting district boundaries in order to disproportionately favor a particular party. The issue is especially relevant in North Carolina, where the state suffers from some of the country’s most extreme gerrymandering. In the 2018 midterms, Republican candidates narrowly won the popular vote across the state by a 50% to 48% margin, yet the party held on to 10 of North Carolina’s 13 congressional seats.
Directors Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?) and Lisa Cortés take viewers back through history sharing countless startling instances displaying just how unjust voting practices have been towards communities of color since the country’s very start.
As November’s election draws nearer, resources across the state have made significant efforts to encourage residents across the Carolinas to make sure they’re registered to vote. The Charlotte Hornets recently launched a “Swarm The Polls” campaign to do just that, and the Spectrum Center as well as Bank of America Stadium will serve as early voting locations in Mecklenburg County.
All In: The Fight For Democracy will screen for free on Wednesday, September 9 at both Hounds Drive-In and Badin Drive-In. The documentary will also be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video beginning September 18.
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