With Trump gaining some momentum, Stacey Abrams (D-GA) just had to remind minorities that Republicans want to suppress their votes. Present Democrats with a political setback, and they inevitably create a Republican boogie man. For example, absent proof of Trump-Russia collusion, they accused Attorney General William Barr of hiding 19 pages of the Mueller report. Thankfully, Ted Cruz injected logic into the matter by saying, “if you’re hiding something, I’ll tell you right now, General Barr, you’re doing a very lousy job of hiding it” (cue the laugh track).
In Democrat world, they cannot lose an election without Republican foul play. They claim Al Gore lost the presidency because Republicans refused to “count every vote” in Florida, and proclaim Hillary Clinton lost because Russians “colluded” with the Trump campaign. Stacey Abrams (D-GA) still claims the gubernatorial election was “stolen from Georgians” because of Republican “minority-voter suppression” in 2018. That’s her story and she’s not conceding.
To borrow from Ted Cruz; if Republicans were trying to suppress minority votes in 2018, they did a very lousy job of it. The data doesn’t support charges that Republican election-integrity laws actually suppressed minority voter turnout. What was a real problem in 1965 is more partisan dogma today. Democrats oppose election-integrity laws because they accept voter fraud and ballot over-counting as a means to the end of gaining political power.
When it comes to fairness, election referees should adhere to the no harm-no foul rule. In 2018 nationally, 10.8 percent more black Americans (51.4%) voted than in the 2014 mid-terms, and the number of Latino voters nearly doubled. Meanwhile, white votes decreased to only 72.8 percent of the national electorate (compared to 76.3% in 2014). This trend contradicts claims of minority-vote suppression.
Stacey Abrams is right that her state’s voter-fraud laws removed 1.4 million names from the voting rolls, but she is wrong about suppression. In fact, larger percentages of black Georgians registered and voted in 2018 than in the 2014 mid-term elections. 68.4 percent of all eligible blacks registered to vote (compared to 62.3%). Almost 60 percent of eligible black Georgians voted (compared to 43%). Ms. Abrams should celebrate these increases, in spite of her defeat.
In comparison, only 66.8 percent of eligible white Georgians registered (compared to 68.4% of blacks), and only 56 percent of whites voted (compared to 60% of blacks). Where was the harm and foul in 2018, when the percentages of registered and voting black Georgians surpassed those of white Georgians? Perhaps Ms. Abrams is a sore loser looking to stay in the national conversation.
It is wrong to lose by 55,000 votes and blame Republican shenanigans, when a plurality of registered Georgians did not vote for a Republican or Democrat. In other words, more registered voters stayed home, rather than vote for Abrams (including more than enough black voters to push Abrams over the top). She is the very definition of delusional, blaming anything but her lack of voter appeal.
Abrams wants to put 2020 Republicans on the defensive by claiming truth-and-justice issues are duplicitous attempts to dis-enfranchise minorities. Therefore, she opposes the citizenship question on the 2020 census and all voter-ID laws, in spite of evidence to the contrary. To wit, Iowa and Missouri passed voter-ID laws in 2016 AND black voter turnout increased in 2018 (up 21% in Iowa).
According to Pew Research, non-racial factors have greater influence over voter turnout. To wit, larger percentages of older voters turn out than 18-to-29-year-old voters, and more women vote than men. The college-educated vote in greater percentages than high school dropouts, and affluent voters (over $150,000 yearly income) are twice as likely to vote as low-income voters – regardless of race. These are the facts, but they don’t interest the virtue-signaling Abrams.
If Democrats were truly virtuous, and honest about every vote counting, they would bemoan the declining turnout of young, poor, white Americans with only a high school education. Ms. Abrams hasn’t said a peep about their low voting numbers; probably because demographic profiles suggest those “forgotten” and “deplorable” Americans tend to vote for Donald Trump. That’s right, and Democrats want those votes to remain forgotten on Election Day.