Thread by @KatyTurNBC

#AmericanSwamp @MSNBC now!

VOTING RIGHTS AND WRONGS

With:

@ericholder
@staceyabrams
@DallasWoodhouse
@MsLaToshaBrown
@RepPeteKing
@DevinNunes
@UN
@SteveKornacki
@jacobsoboroff

And so many more

https://twitter.com/katyturnbc/status/1160707567544410113

America ranks 122nd in the world for voter turnout. Vietnam is number 1. Why? #americanswamp

One reason: our elections are held on Tuesday when most people are working. Some states have early voting but not all.

Is voter fraud another? The president says it’s rampant among democrats. BUT the only voter fraud to force a new federal election in recent history happened in 2018 with the Republican candidate in North Carolina.

Voter apathy is another reason. Lots of folks don’t believe their vote will change anything regardless of who wins.

...lots of others say they don’t need to vote because their state will go blue or red anyway. @SteveKornacki explains the point of the electoral college and why it’s wrong for dems to believe it will always help Republicans #americanswamp

Also, not surprisingly @realDonaldTrump hated the electoral college until he won by it in 2016. #AmericanSwamp

Back to Tuesdays. Why do we vote on Tuesdays? Most of our lawmakers don’t know why but @jacobsoboroff does. The rule goes back to agrarian times when people had to travel long distances to vote at the county seat. Our question: its 2019 why not change it to a wknd? #AmericanSwamp

***ballot fraud***

What about voter suppression? @jacobsoboroff talks @MsLaToshaBrown and Royce Reeves about a voter intimidates incident in Georgia in 2018. #americanswamp

@staceyabrams is also upset about what happened in Georgia in 2018. She says she isn’t sure she would’ve won anyway but she does believe the election was stolen from the voters in her state. #AmericanSwamp

@BrianKempGA was Sec of State at the time - in charge of elections. He purged 500,000+ voters from the rolls. It was legal under a law passed by Dems in the 90s but Abrams says it disproportionately affected African Americans. #americanswamp More here ajc.com/news/state--re…

Gerrymandering is another reason for low turnout. Example: the largest HBCU in the country (@ncatsuaggies) was split in half recently - going from representation by one democrat to two republicans. Some students there feel disenfranchised. #AmericanSwamp.

Here’s more on @EricHolder’s plan to fix gerrymandering: motherjones.com/politics/2019/…

What does the Census have to do with voting? An undercount in a community can lead to underrepresentation in government. @jacobsoboroff explores now #americanswamp

MLK III and Bill Wachtel, whose dads fought together for voting rights, want to solve Voter ID controversies by giving everyone a free social security card with their picture. They pitched it to @realDonaldTrump who expressed support but they never heard back. #americanswamp