Trump Tries His Hand at Voter Suppression LAST-DITCH EFFORT Trump Tries His Hand at Voter Suppression Minutes after the DOJ announced it wil...
LAST-DITCH EFFORT
Trump Tries His Hand at Voter SuppressionMinutes after the DOJ announced it will work to protect voting rights on Tuesday, the president blasted out what can only be read as an attempt to scare potential voters.
Just minutes after the Department of Justice announced its plans to monitor the statesâ compliance with federal voting laws during Tuesdayâs midterm elections, President Trump tweeted out what read like last-ditch effort of voter suppression.
âLaw Enforcement has been strongly notified to watch closely for any IL LEGAL VOTING which may take place in Tuesdayâs Election (or Early Voting),â Trump wrote on Monday morning. âAnyone caught will be subject to the Maximum Criminal Penalties allowed by law. Thank you!â
The threat concluded an early-morning rant from the president about various Democratic senators running for re-election, and CNN, which Trump accused of being the true culprit in voter-suppression efforts.
âSo funny to see the CNN Fake Suppression Polls and false rhetoric. Watch for real results Tuesday. We are lucky CNNâs ratings are so low. Donât fall for the Suppression Game,â Trump wrote.
It is not immediately clear if, in fact, the federal government sent a ânotificationâ to states to look for illegal voting, or any attempt to specify the penalties Trump described.
With the midterm vote less than 24 hours away,Trumpâs warning and overtly hostile effort to protect the Republican-controlled House and Senate breaks from his own justice department, whichâ"after weeks of scrutiny for its silence in light of various suppression effortsâ"is now publicly committed to a fair election.
âVoting rights are constitutional rights, and theyâre part of what it means to be an American,â Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in statement on Monday. âThe Department of Justice has been entrusted wi th an indispensable role in securing these rights for the people of this nation. This year we are using every lawful tool that we have, both civil and criminal, to protect the rights of millions of Americans to cast their vote unimpeded at one of more than 170,000 precincts across America.â
The statement continued: âCitizens of America control this country through their selection of their governmental officials at the ballot box. Likewise, fraud in the voting process will not be tolerated. Fraud also corrupts the integrity of the ballot.â
The agency acknowledged that while state and local governments are responsible for administering elections in the United States, the DOJâs civil-rights division will enforce the voting-rights laws âthat protect the rights of all citizens to access the ballot on Election Day.â
The presidentâs warning comes as Democratic enthusiasm is seemingly at an all-time high, with states, counties, and districts across the nati on reporting record turnouts just from early voting.
Early polls indicate that instead of the usual turnout of 30 percent of Americans voting in the midterms, this yearâs vote could see a 20-percent increase, with numbers mirroring the 2016 presidential election.
The DOJ plans to send officials to 35 jurisdictions in 19 states in an effort to monitor the vote on Tuesdayâ"especially in places Republicans would ordinarily win, like North Dakota and Georgia, whoâve already experienced suppression efforts at the polls.
And yet, polling experts continue to observe nationwide the âworst voter suppressionâ seen âin the modern eraâ: Cuts to early-voting sites in North Carolina; large-scale voter purges from Florida to Maine; a revised voter ID law in North Dakota that could keep Native Americans from the polls; and false voting information flooding social media.
As previously reported by The Daily Beast, several Republican-controlled statesâ"including Missouri and Iowaâ"have new voter ID laws in place this year. One of the strictest is North Dakotaâs new law requiring voters to show proof of a residential mailing address, though thousands of the stateâs Native Americans live on reservation s without specific mailing addresses. Their vote could prove crucial to helping Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp keep her seat in what is seen as one of the tightest senate races this year.
In Georgiaâs gubernatorial race between Republican Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams is one of the most recognizable cases of voter suppression this election cycle, which has prompted many pollsters to claim the race could come down to voting rights as the two candidates are locked in a dead-heat.
Previous reports indicate that about 53,000 voter registrations, 80 percent of which belong to people of color, are on hold under Georgiaâs new âexact matchâ standardâ"a law Kemp, the stateâs secretary of state, pushed through the legislature last year.
âEverybody I speak to says, âIâm voting but why?'â Rev. Mildred Holmes-Denson, a Methodist pastor in Macon, previously told The Daily Beast. âEven if Stacey wins, do you know Kempâs in control of it? Can it be fair when heâs her opponent and says, âThis one can vote. That one canât vote.â How can it be fair when heâs there to suppress any vote he wants?ââ
In Kansas, meanwhile, secretary of state and GOP guberna torial nominee Kris Kobachâ"who propelled Trumpâs voter-fraud commission following the presidentâs baseless claims his own election was riggedâ"is also embroiled in a scandal over a restrictive voter ID law in his state.
The Brennan Center for Justice, which tracks voting suppression, has already documented 24 states currently enduring new laws that will make it harder to get to the polls, using various voting-suppression efforts to dissuade voters.
âBy our assessment, the range of voter suppression efforts has been more widespread, intense, and brazen this cycle than in any other since the modern-day assault on voting began, especially when viewed in combination with the accumulated new hurdles to voting,â the organization wrote.
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Source: Google News | Netizen 24 United States