@oscarjiminy @carnage4life

The number of Black people that were legally eligible to vote in 2016, but that were illegally prevented from voting, was larger than the entire margin of victory for Trump. But we don't like to talk about that. 🤷🏿‍♂️

People who know that their family members are racist for a long time, pretend that they only started being racist after Cambridge Analytica. That's a lie.

Trump gave people who were racist inside the house permission to be racist outside of the house too.

@mekkaokereke @oscarjiminy @carnage4life Please do talk more about the details of the voter suppression, if and when you're so inclined and have the opportunity.

I have a broad sense of the techniques (ID requirements, date/time/location restrictions, register purges, mail-in restrictions) but not a good sense of the numbers involved.

@georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life

I'll give just 2 examples.

1) Black voters in Milwaukee were targeted with racist voter ID laws.
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2017/10/voter-suppression-wisconsin-election-2016/

This caused a 20 point electoral swing to Trump.

2) 17 million voters purged from rolls between 2016 and 2018. Disproportionately Black, in places where Black voters have been intentionally disenfranchised.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/purges-growing-threat-right-vote

The purging was 4 million voters more effective than during Obama's election. 4 *million*. Not a typo

@georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life

The reason that people like Rachel Bitecofer, me, and most Black folk, are so often right about who's going to win a US election, and people like Nate Silver are so often wrong, is that Nate looks at the stats and polls, which tell you how people *intend* to vote, while we look at turnout/suppression, which tells you how people *are able* to vote.

Voter turnout is all about suppression. And suppression is all about racism. 🤷🏿‍♂️

@MHowell @q_aurelius @mekkaokereke @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life it should be free period to get an ID needed to vote. Anything less is an indirect poll tax. Not sure what the free option is but I imagine it has some hoops to jump through needlessly.

Really we need better ways to secure an election instead of IDs. The lack of national standards is incredibly disappointing

@clayrosenthal @MHowell @mekkaokereke @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life

It is indeed as dire as we fear.

They have in fact instituted a way to get a free ID in order to deflect this issue.

Great! you might say. And you would be wrong.

It's illegal to have two forms of state ID. You can't have both a state ID and a driver's license.

And in order to get a state ID, you have to voluntarily surrender any extant driver's license. In a state with little to no public transportation.

@clayrosenthal @MHowell @mekkaokereke @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life

So let's say my wallet is stolen in February and I don't have $50 for a new driver's license, so come November, I go to the BMV (we'll ignore that they've closed a lot of them) and I get my free or low cost state ID.

Now I've surrendered my license to drive. If I drive home, I'm driving without a license and am subject to arrest and vehicle impound.

@clayrosenthal @MHowell @mekkaokereke @georgeeyong @oscarjiminy @carnage4life

And when I come up with the money for a new driver's license, now it costs more because I'm not a licensed driver, I need to take the test again.

So what's a low-income working class POC going to do? Keep driving legally. Keep going to work. And just not vote. Because the alternative is unemployment or jail.

By design. So, please, fuck your "not as dire as you fear."