As progressives repeatedly assure Americans that voter fraud is a myth, many busily perpetuate another myth: voter suppression.
An article from last week by Jesse J. Holland of the Associated Press cites five examples of so-called voter suppression. Holland’s examples are quite vague and unsourced, but were unsurprisingly accepted by ABC News, the Huffington Post, and many others (see here, here, here, here and here) as appropriate to re-post.
While examples include what could certainly be considered as attempts to influence the outcome of elections, it would be nice if the author dug a bit deeper on certain claims, particularly one made by Barbara Arnwine, the Executive Director of the non-profit Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, a strategic litigation group that deals solely in progressive causes, despite the organization’s claim of being “non-partisan.” The organization also administers 866OurVote, a website “formed to ensure that all voters have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process.” Their partners include radical left wing organizations such as the National Action Network, Moms Rising, La Raza, AFL-CIO and the Advancement Project to name just a few.
Jesse J. Holland writes:
The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which is gathering reports on its website, has already fielded complaints during early voting of poll workers questioning voters’ citizenship in Texas, police officers hanging around polls in Florida and robocalls in Georgia and Florida urging voters to “Do what you did in 2010, stay at home,” said Barbara Arnwine, the group’s president. [Emphasis added]
While it is surprising that anyone would object to poll workers verifying citizenship, or police officers “hanging around polls” (after all, the Department of Justice “hung around polls” in eighteen states), the claim that a robocall would say “Do what you did in 2010, stay at home” is quite troubling. Considering that the Tea Party picked up quite a few Congressional seats in 2010, the insinuation is that the robocalls originated from a Tea Party candidate, or at the very least, a Republican candidate.
As previously mentioned, Holland’s article is unsourced, and this claim is no different. Unless perhaps Arnwine’s assertion was paraphrased, this author can find no evidence of such a robocall. Additionally, repeated requests for the source of this information to Arnwine (via her “non-partisan” twitter page), Jesse J. Holland and Arnwine’s “non-partisan” organization have gone unanswered.
@barbs73 I cannot find evidence of robocalls in Georgia and Florida urging voters to “Do what you did in 2010, stay at home.” Who did this?
— Renee Nal (@ReneeNal) November 4, 2014
While the lack of response does not necessarily mean that the assertion is fabricated, it certainly seems suspicious, or at the very least, sloppy journalism. In fact, if it is true — that a robocall in Georgia and Florida told voters to “Do what you did in 2010, stay at home” — it is not a stretch to believe that it would be reported ad nauseam in the mainstream media. Perhaps Arnwine just is not very responsive on Twitter, you may observe.
But Arnwine was responsive to another comment:
“@ReneeNal: @lexisb @barbs73 Working for me: http://t.co/b71CHvqoNi” Majority of voters vote in morning when website was down for hours.
— Barbara Arnwine (@barbs73) November 4, 2014
Bonus:
Another example of a troubling voter suppression story can be found in the case of Willie Mims, another unchallenged example of voter suppression, one that is still cited by “Empower Alabama.”
Watch the video released by the organization, which seeks to “turn Alabama blue:”
Remember Willie Mims? We’re heading to Brewton today to help Willie get a photo ID http://t.co/dsKpy9ZpMG — Turn Alabama Blue (@UniteBlueAL) October 30, 2014
And now read about what really happened, as reported at Liberty Unyielding.
