Originally Posted by Pete F.
I could, like some, use the method of repeating 150 year old racist tropes in new language and gaslighting that now they are justified and some people should not be able to vote.
But you do use a lot of tropes.
In practice, efforts to manipulate electoral participation - and specifically to suppress Black voters - have been and continue to be a prominent theme in the history of American elections.
American history, like all of world history, is full of ugly efforts.
Enslaved people could not vote. After the 1860s Civil War, newly freed African Americans seized the right to vote, sending several men to represent Southern states in Congress.
That was good. Republicans were sent to represent Southern states in Congress. The Dems sure did some really ugly stuff to turn that around.
But as early as the 1870s, white Americans systematically disenfranchised Black voters (and also many poor whites) through a variety of regulations — including property and education clauses. The notorious “grandfather clause” decreed men could vote only if their grandfather was also eligible to vote in the years before 1867. Violence at the ballot box kept African American men, and African American women after 1920, away for decades.
Yup, those Dem "white Americans" could be really nasty.
When Trump incited his followers to sign up as “election poll watchers”, he evokes this very history, which dominated Southern politics until the civil rights movement.
Actually, that didn't evoke old history, poll watching is a current thing. All parties do it. It's not a bad idea in this climate of voter manipulation that you seem to be concerned about
Since the movement, African American voters have selected the Democratic presidential candidate in huge majorities. As a result, new forms of suppression have emerged to stop them.
Since 2010, 25 states have introduced measures to make it harder to vote. For example, they require voters to register prior to the election and/or provide photo ID at the point of voting.
Is that a requirement for ALL voters, or just blacks? All states except ND require registration for All voters. ID is not hard to get. And you have plenty of time to do so. It's a canard to say it is, and there are more poor whites than Blacks.
In 11 states, people convicted of felonies are banned from voting long after custodial sentences end or fines have been paid – and sometimes for life. These laws have seen 6 million adults lose the right to vote.
Only about 25% of that 6 million are black. So most of that number are probably white. Voting is by raw number, so if more whites were disenfranchised, that would seem to be even a greater suppression of the white vote.
These methods all affect poorer and less well-educated Americans more than affluent Americans. Non-white Americans, especially African American, Native American and to a lesser extent Latino voters, have been most affected.
Apparently not.
In Florida, where this disenfranchisement affected more than 20% of African Americans, voters overturned the ban. Republican state legislators soon found a way to ensure 775,000 people still cannot vote by deeming ineligible anyone with outstanding court fees.
Again, what are the raw numbers? How many whites were included in the 775,000? Anyway, when comparing groups by number, complete parity is a highly unlikely outcome.
In neighbouring Georgia, Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp narrowly edged out popular Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams – who is African American – in the 2018 election for governor. His success came by ruthlessly disqualifying 53,000 voters – 70% of them African American and only 20% white – with dubious “signature matching” requirements.
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