Voter suppresion/"stealing the election" megathread

[brucejoel99]

There's already a post on this in the voter suppression megathread.

Mods, please merge.

[Suburbia]

Trump should not be involving law enforcement in this stuff

[pbrower2a]

https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1296627473342517248?s=21

Are we still a Democracy?

Intimidation of potential voters is electoral fraud, plain and simple.

I have never seen a law-enforcement presence at any polling place in any election that I have been in California, Texas, or Michigan. The only excuse for law enforcement officials to be at a polling place is to respond to a crime at a polling place, which is a stretch (such as people trying to intimidate voters).

[pbrower2a]

Trump should not be involving law enforcement in this stuff

Maybe there will be partisan poll watchers checking to see if people have appropriate identification an ensuring that people aren't denied the vote for specious reasons. 

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1296661012163239937

[Gass3268]

https://twitter.com/ellenlweintraub/status/1296806425818259459?s=21

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/1296814633182015494

[Horus]

https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/1296814633182015494

Did they really think no one would notice this?

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/abbydphillip/status/1296814633182015494

Perjuring yourself to own the libs

[GeneralMacArthur]

Did anyone actually bother to watch the hearings this morning?  Seemed like DeJoy mostly skated by on a combination of the following talking points:

• All of these changes were put in place before I became Postmaster General
• None of this stuff we're removing was needed anyway
• I don't have any insight or influence over decisions made at the local office level
• Repeated promises that nothing he does, or will do, will affect elections.

Democrats came close to nailing him a few times but didn't really land the KO.  They also made him promise to get them a bunch of documents by Sunday night, which are unlikely to accomplish much.

Of course, the problem with this is that charts and metrics, which Gary Peters (D-MI) provided, show pretty clearly that USPS performance has plummeted in the last month specifically.  Furthermore, there are plenty of office-level anecdotes demonstrating the tremendous negative impact his absurd actions are having.  Maggie Hassan (D-NH) told him about how, thanks to his pointless orders to dismantle sorting machines, the largest distribution center in NH now has only one machine, which breaks frequently, causing huge delays in mail.  If not fixed, of course, this will cause huge delays in election mail, thus disrupting the election.  His response was "I don't know anything about that, it's too low-level."  But he also repeatedly, and condescendingly, insisted to Gary Peters that those very same sorting machines were "not needed."  Unfortunately, the Democrats didn't quite connect the dots to make a knockout moment.

Republicans mostly just licked his balls the entire time, as expected, and set up strawman Democratic arguments for him to knock down.  Ron Johnson pointed out on about a dozen different occasions that DeJoy was appointed not by Trump but by the Board of Governors.  Of course, he didn't mention that Trump appointed the majority of the Board of Governors, and thus controls that board.

There was also an entertaining moment where Tom Carper (D-DE) was having connectivity issues, almost missed his slot, and went live just in time for us to see him shouting "F--K F--K F--K F--K!!" at his assistant.  Which seems rude but would probably be my reaction as well if I was about to miss an event I spent all week preparing for due to some BS technical problems.

[Progressive Pessimist]

Yeah, this is a great way to help the civilian populace trust law enforcement more.

[Interlocutor is just not there yet]

Yeah, this is a great way to help the civilian populace trust law enforcement more.

It's been very interesting seeing the recent (Or not so recent) co-option of law enforcement as a 'right-wing police force' against left-wing cities/populace. Observing election precincts (In inner-cities I presume) by orders of a Republican President attempting to suppress votes certainly doesn't lessen that image.

The favorability/approval of law enforcement is gonna be one of the most interesting trends to follow in the next decade as more Millennials/Zoomers grow up with a hardened & pessimistic perspective of the police & the next generation growing up with the George Floyd protests.

[Non Swing Voter]

I feel like some of these voter suppression tactics are going to backfire spectacularly on Republicans.  They seem to be acting like they're still the party of UMC college educated whites.  The GOP's entire theory of why 2018 didn't matter to 2020 was that Trump brings out lots of low propensity, blue collar, less educated voters than vote in midterms. 

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/RiegerReport/status/1297166130084065286

[Tender Branson]

CO doesn't really have a sizeable amount of in-person precincts (except for election-day registrants, homeless etc.), but still good to read from CO's Secretary of State:

https://twitter.com/JenaGriswold/status/1296853672052183041

[Suburbia]

Yeah, this is a great way to help the civilian populace trust law enforcement more.

It's been very interesting seeing the recent (Or not so recent) co-option of law enforcement as a 'right-wing police force' against left-wing cities/populace. Observing election precincts (In inner-cities I presume) by orders of a Republican President attempting to suppress votes certainly doesn't lessen that image.

The favorability/approval of law enforcement is gonna be one of the most interesting trends to follow in the next decade as more Millennials/Zoomers grow up with a hardened & pessimistic perspective of the police & the next generation growing up with the George Floyd protests.

Yes, a lot of police are pro-Republican now. They were trending Republican historically since the 1960s, law enforcement is conservative-leaning but the BLM rhetoric hasn't helped. A lot of these police don't want to be in Democratic-run cities, and this is why I say Democrats should stop with gun control and embrace gun ownership, because a lot of these police are giving up on protecting Democratic cities. I know some of you say "It's their job, they are public servants", but listen to what AG Barr said in December. These things are coming to light.

The only millennial group that approves of the police are young rightists and young white male cops who don't see a problem with police-community relations, especially in the South, etc.

They are some young cops who want to "bridge the gap", I don't know if that is going to work.

https://www.instagram.com/def_not_a_cop/

https://www.instagram.com/nodonutshere/

[Suburbia]

Republicans and Democrats both have a history of having law enforcement or their own supporters intimidate the other side during election season.

The Black Panthers thing in 2008, the Kean and Whitman thing in 1981 and 1993, Giuliani-associated PBA intimidating voters in 1993.

On Election Day itself there were massive violations of voters’ Tights at the polls, as police in several instances intimidated people of color. Cops put up phony Dinkins posters in mostly Dominican Washington Heights, saying the INS would be checking voters’ documents at the polls. In some cases police themselves asked Latino voters for their passports. Dinkins held an Election Day noon press conference complaining about these incidents (Attorney General Janet Reno says they will be investigated).

https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/4719.html

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/JesseLehrich/status/1297240194224201730

[Horus]

Republicans and Democrats both have a history of having law enforcement or their own supporters intimidate the other side during election season.

The Black Panthers thing in 2008, the Kean and Whitman thing in 1981 and 1993, Giuliani-associated PBA intimidating voters in 1993.

On Election Day itself there were massive violations of voters’ Tights at the polls, as police in several instances intimidated people of color. Cops put up phony Dinkins posters in mostly Dominican Washington Heights, saying the INS would be checking voters’ documents at the polls. In some cases police themselves asked Latino voters for their passports. Dinkins held an Election Day noon press conference complaining about these incidents (Attorney General Janet Reno says they will be investigated).

https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/atc/4719.html

Sure, but tell me the last time the president tried to order it.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/1297297208979660800

Who had "Postal workers revolt" on their 2020 bingo card?

[Progressive Pessimist]

https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/1297297208979660800

Who had "Postal workers revolt" on their 2020 bingo card?

Freedom fighters! I would love to see this civil disobedience spread throughout the country.

[brucejoel99]

https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/1297297208979660800

Who had "Postal workers revolt" on their 2020 bingo card?

Good trouble.

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/1297297208979660800

Who had "Postal workers revolt" on their 2020 bingo card?

Massive FFs

[ProgressiveModerate]

https://twitter.com/thegarance/status/1297297208979660800

Who had "Postal workers revolt" on their 2020 bingo card?

Freedom fighters! I would love to see this civil disobedience spread throughout the country.

Thank you for doing the right thing. This isn't left v right, it's right vs wrong

[GeneralMacArthur]

DeJoy insisted to Gary Peters that those mail-sorting machines were "not needed."

Kind of bizarre that USPS workers are reinstalling machines that aren't needed.