Re: Glenn V. Fell for Lies About Georgia Voting Law

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021 at 4:42:34 PM UTC-4, ajohnstone wrote:
> But not to derail the topic thread=20
>=20
> Voters wait an average of just six minutes in line after 7pm in precincts=
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> where 90% of residents are white. But when 90% of voters are Black? The=
=20
> wait is 51 minutes.=20
>=20

Which tells us nothing. The obvious next question is why.

> Between 2012 and 2018, Georgia shut 8% of all precincts statewide, and=20
> moved 40% of them.=20
>=20

Again, meaningless on its own.

> According to a study by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the combination=
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> of fewer precincts and longer commutes could have kept as many as 85,000=
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> people from casting a ballot in 2018. This disproportionately affected=20
> Black voters, who were 20% less likely to make it to the polls as a=20
> result.=20

Why would it affect black voters disproportionately? Nobody was prevented 
from voting by longer commutes. They just didn't want to make the effort. 
Polls are open for more than 12 hours a day. How long does it take people 
to get to the polls.

>=20
> The new law limits four of the state=E2=80=99s most populous, and=20
> predominantly Black counties, to just 23 drop boxes =E2=80=93 down from 9=
4=20
> during the 2020 and makes them available only during government office=20
> hours, rather than around the clock. Mobile voting centers have been=20
> banned.=20

Drop boxes? I've voted my whole life without ever seeing a drop box. I'd 
never even heard of a drop box until this past election. Not having enough 
drop boxes is a lame excuse.

>=20
> The amount of time that voters have to request an absentee ballot is=20
> reduced by half.

How much time does it take to request an absentee ballot?

> It adds additional new voter ID provisions for requesting=20
> and casting an absentee ballot; studies show that voters of color are muc=
h=20
> more likely than white voters to have their ballots disqualified for=20
> missing that step.=20

Is it harder for black people to get an ID?

>=20
> Standardize the early voting hours from 9am to 5pm, rather than 7am to=20
> 7pm, to make it that much harder for working people to cast their ballot.

White people work too. Why is this provision discriminatory?

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> From what i see, JC's concern that invalid voting cancels out legitimate=
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> votes has not been the motivation of the law changes.=20

What you see is not necessarily what is.

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> Democracy is about participation in the process, not trying to exclude a=
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> section of the population through gerrymandering rules. Look what happene=
d=20
> in Northern Ireland when the Protestants imposed election rules to favor=
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> themselves and handicap the Catholics. Civil war ensued.

Throwing gerrymandering into the conversation is a red herring. It has 
nothing to do with the new Georgia voting laws. Neither does what happened 
in Northern Ireland. Participation in our democracy is voluntary. If some 
choose not to, that is their privilege. Those who choose not to are likely 
uninformed. I would rather see people who aren't interested in 
participating stay home rather than being dragged to the polls to cast 
uninformed votes.