Outrage Over Georgia Voter Protections “Isn’t on the Level”
Ballot integrity rules such as those recently passed in Georgia are commonly and viciously described by the left, and reported in the mainstream media, as racist. Yet they protect black votes – oftentimes the most at risk – from being diluted by those seeking to co-opt American elections.
“What a change that the woke police have brought to us,” lamented Project 21 Co-Chairman Horace Cooper.
On the Fox News Channel program “The Ingraham Angle,” Horace said that the left’s fury – which led Major League Baseball to move its All-Star Game from Atlanta to Denver – is also causing economic hardship for black Georgians:
[W]hat we have now done is punish a city – Atlanta – with an over 50% minority population by taking from them nearly $100 million in new opportunities and sending it to Denver, which has barely a nine percent black population.
Highlighting the confusion created by the left’s ire for real and unobtrusive voter integrity rules, guest host Brian Kilmeade asked:
If minority voters overwhelmingly support having voter ID – not a license, just ID, a utility bill – then why are people using terms like Jim Crow 2.0? Does it make sense to you?
Horace replied:
It makes sense to me because this isn’t on the level.
The plan here is to manipulate people. It is to divide people. Black Americans aren’t any less likely to be able to get access to a driver’s license than white Americans or any other communities in our country.
The truth of the matter is, when they say these things, they do them intentionally to create the impression that America is a place, in the 21st century, [where] we ought to be worrying about who our neighbors are based primarily on their skin color.
Contrary to the leftist narrative that black voters are disadvantaged by voter protections, Kilmeade noted that recent polling showed black approval for voter ID measures at 73%. Horace explained that keeping people’s ballots from being compromised by “ghosts” and those not legally allowed to vote protects all Americans:
Our organization has done multiple studies, and they show that it is actually black Americans who are most likely victimized when voter fraud takes place. It turns out that it is very tempting to manipulate election returns when black communities are involved.
Black Americans, like white Americans, need voter integrity. We need to be sure so that, when Gallup asks Americans why we don’t vote, we don’t answer “because my vote can’t make a difference.” We need to make sure that every person is confident when they go in [a polling place that] real votes are gonna decide elections.
Project 21 has made policy recommendations for voter ID, citizen-only voting and voter roll maintenance – among other protections – in its “Blueprint for a Better Deal for Black America.” Additional recommendations will be released soon in a second edition of the Blueprint.
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This article was published on April 8, 2021, and is reproduced with permission from the National Center for Public Policy Research.
