Thread by @LuluFriesdat

Thread #ElectionSecurity is THE #VoterSuppression issue.
1. I want you to listen to this @nytimes #TheDaily podcast about the #GeorgiaPrimary meltdown nytimes.com/2020/06/11/pod… Listen to how they tiptoe around the issue of #votingmachines & don't identify them as the CENTRAL issue.

2. Why are #votingmachines the central #VoterSuppression issue in #GA & many other states? Because they are the new #JimCrow. The machine is the way officials control how many ppl vote & how those votes are counted. It might as well be a literacy test. Could it be more obvious?

3. The podcast notes that the counties that did not get enough voting machines (for example 3, when they needed 8) were the counties with LARGE #Dem populations w/predominantly voters of color. W/a touchscreen voting machine if you don't have enough machines you have long lines.

4. The way to solve this is w/ #HandMarkedPaperBallots for voters who are able to mark by hand. Many more voters can vote at the same time. Less technology = less things can go wrong & lower costs. It's important to keep ballot marking devices for voters who need them #Disability

5. #Georgia could have purchased a #HandMarkedPaperBallots system for a fraction of the cost. Estimate for a hand-marked system for the whole state was $25M. documentcloud.org/documents/5766… Link via @VoterGa

Why did they spend $120M on machines?

6. THE BIG REVEAL:
GA spent $120M on machines because what they are buying is not voting equip. They are buying the ability to determine who gets to vote, who doesn't, which votes are counted, which are not. For that they paid three - four times what they needed to spend.

7. Until media like @NYtimes & #Democracy reform groups like @DFADCoalition @civilrightsorg @CommonCause @IndivisibleNet & @StandUpAmerica get this it will be hard to make progress on #ElectionSecurity OR #VoterSuppression because you can't solve a problem you won't name & face

8. Meanwhile, these groups are asking Congress to give 4Billion in election funding, without putting restrictions on how the funds can be spent. Many counties will take that money & buy more expensive ballot-marking devices - causing more lines and more voter suppression.

9. Then #Dems will tell their voters to vote via mail - votes which often get lost or rejected & #Reps will tell their voters to vote in person & make sure that their voters' precincts have enough machines. Then next January there will be forums about what the Dems did wrong.

10. @MarilynRMarks1 @CoalitionGoodGv @jennycohn1 @TheBradBlog @SEGreenhalgh
@KimZetter @fbajak @suehalpernVT @philipbstark @jhalderm @rad_atl @kskoglund @HarriHursti @BevHarrisWrites @benniejsmith @FilmsForChange @Karen_McKim_ @ScrutineersUS are good ppl to follow about this.

11. I will be speaking about these issues at a forum on July 6th. eventbrite.com/e/online-elect… Please join us - and invite me & the people above to your own forums. There is an #ElectionSecurity movement. It needs to be elevated to an urgent national priority.