Thread by @bansisharma

1. WSJ: What Was That About Voter Suppression?

Census data show a lower black-white turnout disparity in Georgia than in New Jersey.

2. "We have classic voter suppression,” declared Kamala Harris last fall, and Democrats keep making the charge. Yet new Census voting data show these claims are as meritless as what the Democrats refer to as The Big Lie.

3. Census figures released Thursday show that turnout in 2020 reached a near-historic high for a presidential election, with 66.8% of voting-age citizens casting ballots—0.9 percentage-points shy of the 1992 record.

4. Notably, GOP states with stricter voting rules didn’t experience significantly lower minority turnout. Black turnout was highest in Maryland (75.3%) followed by Mississippi (72.8%) and lowest in Massachusetts (36.4%).

5. Liberals have lambasted Georgia for “purging” voters and restricting ballot access. But Georgia had a smaller black-white voting gap than Illinois, New Jersey, Virginia and California—all states controlled by Democrats.

6. The states with the biggest black-white voting gaps? Massachusetts, Oregon, Wisconsin, Iowa and Colorado. Three allow same-day voter registration (Wisconsin, Iowa, and Colorado), according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

7. Good luck trying to discern a link between a state’s voting rules, partisan control and minority turnout.

8. Perhaps no state has done more to make it easier to vote than California. It allows same-day registration, ballot harvesting and out-of-precinct voting. Arizona doesn’t allow any of these practices, yet it had higher turnout among all minority groups than California.

9. The Supreme Court has heard a case this term brought by Democrats challenging Arizona’s ban on ballot harvesting and out-of-precinct voting. Democrats claim without evidence that Arizona’s rules disproportionately affect minorities. The 2020 election shows otherwise.

10. Democrats also say the Supreme Court unleashed voter suppression by striking down a Voting Rights Act provision that allowed the Justice Department to block changes to voting rules in states with histories of discrimination. ...

11. But the high minority turnout in states like Georgia and Mississippi reaffirms the Court’s ruling that the provision was outdated.

12. Democrats know their complaints are false, but they repeat them to energize apathetic voters. The top reasons Americans gave for not voting last fall:
Not interested (17.6%)
Did not like candidate choices (14.5%)
Too busy/conflicting schedule (13.1%), and
Forgot (13%)

13. Few cited an inconvenient polling place (2.6%) or registration problems (4.9%). Differences across racial groups were small.

14. Myriad factors including the candidates, a person’s political and civic engagement as well as education are bigger determinants of voting than the ease of casting a ballot. Cynicism fed by politicians of both parties may also disillusion would-be voters.

15. The good news is that most voters don’t see voter suppression—and their 2020 turnout proves it.

The End
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