Republicans are going to terrify minority communities, ruin the integrity of elections, and monitor votes in order to secure a win. At least, that’s what failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams thinks.
In a Tuesday MSNBC interview, Abrams claimed that the “For the first time since 1981, the RNC will be allowed to cheat and lie and go into polling places and scare voters, particularly voters of color.” She’s right that a 1982 consent decreelimiting the Republican National Committee’s ballot security efforts has been lifted. As for the consequences, she’s far off base, as usual.
In order to extend the decree, the Democratic National Committee had to show proof that the RNC had engaged in prohibited voter intimidation efforts, according to a Politico report. Despite the DNC’s allegations that people who may have been associated with the RNC were engaging in poll monitoring, a judge ruled that there was not enough evidence to show that the RNC was attempting to interfere with elections. As a result, the decree was lifted.
Lifting the consent decree simply puts the DNC and the RNC on the same playing field.
Both parties now face equal scrutiny under the law. Democrats claim that the consent decree is necessary because Republicans are the ones with a “record” of voter suppression. They forget which party actually enacted voting restrictions during the Jim Crow era — it was largely southern Democrats.
Alarmist claims that Republicans are “gutting the very notion of government by and for the people” amount to hyperbolic fearmongering. This kind of rhetoric is unnecessary and harmful.
It’s true that Republicans support measures such as voter ID laws and are against illegal immigrants voting in federal elections — something that is already expressly prohibited under federal law. But to suggest these policies are an attempt to completely undermine our system of democratic government is simply baseless and absurd. In the eyes of right-wing voters, these measures are simply about protecting the integrity of elections.
Not to mention that Democrats also participate in the same efforts they decry, such as gerrymandering, to give their party as much of an advantage as possible. To claim Republicans are the only ones using morally suspect tactics to gain votes is partisan nonsense.
It’s pretty ironic that Abrams, of all people, took such a strong stance on election integrity. She has repeatedlyrefused to admit she actually lost in the Georgia gubernatorial election, despite the fact that Brian Kemp won by over 55,000 votes. Although she acknowledged Kemp as the “legal governor,” she’s claimed “it was not a free and fair election” and accused Kemp of “systematic voter suppression” and voter intimidation.
In light of such rank hypocrisy, alarmist claims that Republicans are dismantling the democratic system are absurd. It’s time the Left abandons its hyperpartisan rhetoric and focuses on winning votes through policy, rather than by accusing the other side of cheating to justify their failure.
*story by The Washington Examiner