Thread by @TravelingNun

“If you don’t vote in this election it’s because you’re a selfish, privileged elite who can’t understand the needs of the oppressed.”

This is a bald-faced lie fabricated (ironically) by political elites in order to bully other ppl into voting. [thread]

First,

The older richer & whiter you are the more likely you are to vote. There’s a multitude of reasons for this but most pertinent is that ppl are more likely to feel represented by our two-party political system if they are older richer & whiter. nytimes.com/interactive/20…

Second,

Non-voters are more likely to be poor, less educated, and non-white. Surveys of low-income and POC citizens report high levels of voter disengagement due to feeling unrepresented in politics and the belief that voting won’t make a difference.

nytimes.com/2019/11/07/ups…

Third,

People try to say that low-income and POC voters have lower voter turnout due to voter suppression. But when this demographic is ever actually ASKED why they didn’t vote, it’s overwhelmingly because they didn’t want to.

pewtrusts.org/en/research-an…

Is voter suppression a real thing? YES. Does it disproportionately impact low-income and POC people? YES. For what it’s worth I myself am among the large number of POC voters who have been turned away at the polls due to voter ID laws. This is a real issue. It’s impacted ME.

But blaming voter suppression for the ASTRONOMICAL LEVELS of voter disengagement amongst low-income and POC communities is just lazy.

Low-income and POC people are literally TELLING us why so many of them don’t vote, and it’s overwhelming because they are CHOOSING to stay home because they don’t feel represented by the two-party system.

huffpostbrasil.com/entry/why-non-…

It’s easier to pretend that poor and POC voters aren’t voting because they lack agency than it is to grapple with the very real political statement that MILLIONS of poor and POC people are making in choosing not to vote.

Fourth,

Ppl are further manufacturing the lie that not voting is a “privilege” bcuz it’s easier to believe that ppl don’t participate in the two-party system for selfish reasons than it is to acknowledge that our system caters to only a fraction of wealthy society.

This lie is intentional. It’s meant to shore up power in the two-party system and silence defectors, most of whom are poor and POC in the first place.

theintercept.com/2020/04/09/non…

Finally,

PLEASE vote in this election and vote like your life depended on it. I DO NOT WANT 4 MORE YEARS OF DONALD TRUMP. Let’s get him out and then talk about changing things. 👏PLEASE VOTE👏

But stop spreading the lie that non-voters are just a bunch of privileged elites. They are not. Spreading this lie serves to silence the voices of millions of poor and POC non-voters who don’t feel represented by our political system.

If you’re able to vote in this election & actually feel like one of the two major candidates even remotely approximates your political goals, however terribly they do so, THAT is a privilege. Recognize it acknowledge it & work to bring change so that more ppl can feel represented