Last updated on March 3rd, 2021 at 02:02 am
Stacey Abrams called out Republicans on Monday for their escalating, nationwide efforts to make it harder for millions of Americans to vote – particularly those in the African American community.
During an interview with MSNBC‘s Joy Reid, Abrams said the GOP effort to take away voting rights is anti-democratic and must be stopped.
“We are watching a nationwide sweep of voter suppression that is not only abysmal, it is counter to who we say we are as Americans,” she said.
Abrams urged Americans to mobilize and fight these efforts, particularly in the wake of the Jan. 6 attack at the Capitol.
“We should be demanding that we have equal access to democracy instead of cowering and letting anti-democratic forces steal the right to vote away from millions of Americans,” she said.
Video:
Stacey Abrams slams GOP voter suppression efforts: “We are watching a nationwide sweep of voter suppression that is not only abysmal, it is counter to who we say we are as Americans.” pic.twitter.com/12szPxAmUr
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) March 2, 2021
Abrams said:
The current slate of laws that are being prescribed across this country actually take us to what looks like post-reconstruction Jim Crow era laws, and that’s not hyperbolic. Essentially what these laws would do is limit access to registration, access to casting a ballot, and access to having that ballot counted, essentially pushing people — millions of people across the country, mainly black and brown people — out of the voting process. Saying that you can ban automatic voter registration means for millions of Americans, they will no longer be allowed to vote, to register unless someone comes to find them. If you increase the photo I.D. requirements, there are millions of Americans who simply cannot meet those requirements because the underlying paperwork that they have to have either doesn’t exist, is too expensive, or is too complicated to access. We know that again and again these laws are designed for one specific purpose, and that is to discourage or prevent people from voting. And we know it’s not just happening in the nine states and 55 jurisdictions that were what’s covered by Section 5. It’s happening across the country. And therefore we are watching a nationwide sweep of voter suppression that is not only abysmal, it is counter to who we say we are as Americans. And in the wake of January 6th and that insurrection, our clinging to democracy should be forthright, and we should be demanding that we have equal access to democracy instead of cowering and letting anti-democratic forces steal the right to vote away from millions of Americans.
The GOP wants to choose its voters
In an increasingly diverse country, Republicans know that it will become more and more difficult for their party to win elections. After all, the angry white vote that makes up a sizable portion of their base is only shrinking.
Instead of pulling their party out of the stone age and attempting to appeal to a more diverse set of voters, Republicans are seeking to exclude them from the process altogether.
These efforts must be stopped, or democracy as the American people know it will cease to exist.
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