'There is a voter-suppression wing': An ugly American tradition clouds the 2020 presidential race
A Memphis, Tenn., poll worker turned away people wearing Black Lives Matter T-shirts, saying they couldn't vote. Robocalls warned thousands of Michigan residents that mail-in voting could put their personal information in the hands of debt collectors and police. In Georgia, officials cut polling places by nearly 10%, even as the number of voters surged by nearly 2 million.
The long American tradition of threatening voting access — often for Black people and Latinos — has dramatically resurfaced in 2020, this time buttressed by a record-setting wave of litigation and an embattled president whose reelection campaign is built around a strategy of sowing doubt and confusion.
Voting rights activists depict the fights against expanding voter access as a last-ditch effort by President Trump and his allies to disenfranchise citizens who tend to favor Democrats. The administration insists — despite no evidence of a widespread problem — that it must enforce restrictions to prevent voter fraud.
“We have an incredibly polarized country and we have a political party whose leader thinks it's to the party's advantage to make it harder for people to register to vote and to vote,” said Richard L. Hasen, a UC Irvine law professor and authority on voting. “So that is where we are.”
Trump's efforts to tamp down turnout, particularly among voters of color, stands in stark contrast to other recent GOP presidential candidates, including John McCain and Mitt Romney, who spoke of a "big tent" party and expanding support among Black, Latino and Asian American voters.
“There are two strands in the Republican Party,” said Hasen. “There is one that has tried to be more inclusive, as a means to win elections and there is a voter-suppression wing. With Trump in office, it’s clear the voter-suppression wing is dominant right now.”
Many, many Thanks to everyone who has to put up with the shit above, and the crap below. Here in Oregon, the ballots come in the mail, and that's how they go back. Easy-peasy.
I just did a test, and the Name/URL slot can be used to leave a comment with whatever name you choose, without having to use the URL part.
