Runoff elections set up in Georgia in early 1960s by segregationists to keep Black voters from participating
But high turnout, diverse electorate & 2 years of organizing against voter suppression could be the difference for Dem Senate candidates on Jan 5 motherjones.com/politics/2020/…
In 1963 segregationist GA Rep proposed runoff elections "as a means of circumventing what is called the Negro bloc vote.” GOP has dominated since then
But record turnout in 2020, organizing against suppression & diverse Biden coalition giving Dems hope for Senate races
-1 million new voters registered from 2016-2020, 2/3 people of color
-# of unregistered voters fell from 22% to 2%
-Rejected mail ballots fell from 3.4% to .2%
Disturbing news from GA: Cobb County, 3rd largest in state & which swung heavily to Biden, cutting # of early voting locations from 11 to 5 for runoff, including in areas with large concentrations of Black & Latino voters nytimes.com/live/2020/12/0…
most of Cobb’s Black and Latino voters live in the southern portion of the county, where four locations have been folded into one site that is “all the way at the bottom of south Cobb and is not accessible to many of the voters in those communities” washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Trump isn't just trying to throw out votes in MI, WI, PA. He's trying to throw out Black votes in cites like Detroit, Milwaukee & Philly. Media coverage needs to be very clear about GOP voter disenfranchisement strategy happening here motherjones.com/politics/2020/…
Cities where Trump campaign trying to throw votes out:
Detroit - 78% Black & voted 94% for Biden
Milwaukee - home to 70% of Black voters in WI, voted 79% for Biden
Philly - 44% Black, voted 81% for Biden
And that should say *cities in my first tweet [so ready for this election to be over]
They closed polling places, purged voter rolls, attacked mail voting, tried to throw out ballots
And yet voters turned out in record numbers to overcome these barriers & make their voices heard
Massive turnout can defeat massive suppression
Now we need to keep increasing the turnout and get rid of the suppression
Thank you to all the activists, organizers, lawyers, poll workers, election officials, postal workers & everyone else who worked so hard under very difficult conditions so people would be able to vote
And all the journalists who reported the truth to counteract the darkness
Black voters in PA, WI, MI, GA & Latino voters in AZ & NV ended the Trump presidency
It was Black voters in Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Flint, Milwaukee, Racine, Kenosha, Atlanta, Savannah & Latino voters in Las Vegas, Reno, Phoenix, Tucson that saved Joe Biden & the country
Important point by Biden lawyer Bob Bauer: Trump's lawsuits challenging vote counting not designed to win in court, but spread misinformation & encourage thuggish behavior by his supporters to undermine legitimacy of election
Trump's desperate lawsuits won't stop votes from being counted or change results. They're already being struck down
But every lie he tells delegitimizes election among his supporters & increases prospect of intimidation or violence. That's dangerous motherjones.com/politics/2020/…
Trump campaign has already lost two lawsuits today in GA & MI to stop vote counting