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Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Brad Witt, President Trump, Henry Heimuller, VP Pence, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia’s dog, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone.
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The Republican party loves voter suppression They are master of it.
A History of Voter SuppressionBy Tammy Maygra The Trump administration and Republican Party have done things like removing voter drop boxes, shutdown polls, trying to nullify hundreds of thousands of ballots. Encourages his followers to intimidate voters, and run Biden/Harris campaign bus and cars off the road, and use his lawyers to get the votes thrown out before they are counted. All in attempt to ensure Trumps re-election and when that fails Trump has declared that he will stop the count with more lawyers. The 2020 election is a pivotal moment whether our Republic’s ability to flourish and survive as our forefathers intended. The passage of the Fifteenth Amendment in 1870 guaranteed the right to vote to men of all races, including former slaves. Initially, this resulted in high voter turnout among African-Americans in the South. In the 1880 United States presidential election, a majority of eligible African-American voters cast a ballot in every Southern state except for two. In eight Southern states, Black turnout was equal to or greater than White turnout. At the end of the Reconstruction era, Southern states began implementing policies to suppress Black voters, after all the South could not allow the black people to have a say in the government. Because of the white’s suppression after 1890, less than 9,000 of Mississippi's 147,000 eligible African-American voters were registered to vote, or about 6%. Louisiana went from 130,000 registered African-American voters in 1896 to 1,342 in 1904 resulting in about a 99% decrease. Poll TaxesOne way the rich white men kept control of the government and made decisions in ways to enhance their pocketbook was to suppress the vote by Poll taxes. Poll taxes were used to exclude voters, particularly African-Americans and poor whites in the South. Poll taxes started in the 1890s, requiring eligible voters to pay a fee before casting a ballot. Some poor whites were grandfathered in if they had an ancestor who voted before the Civil War. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia), as well as several outside the South, imposed poll taxes. The Poll was administered a bit differently state by state. Some had to pay the tax many years before voting some after they turned 21. The poll tax was officially prohibited in 1964. Literacy Tests,Literacy tests varied in difficulty, with African-Americans often given more rigorous tests, because they had to control the black folks. Civil war veterans were exempt from the tests in some states. I bet you could guess which states. Voter suppression of black people was blatant In Macon County, Alabama in the late 1950s, at least twelve whites who had not finished elementary school passed the literacy test, while several college-educated African-Americans were failed. White people with their ignorance strikes again. Literacy tests were widespread outside the South as well, as they were seen as keeping society's undesirables the poor, immigrants, or just about any group that the old white men wanted to suppress from voting. Twenty states still had literacy tests after World War II, including seven Southern states. What is surprising is these following states had Literacy tests too, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. A 1970 Amendment to the Voting Rights Act prohibited the use of literacy tests for determining voting eligibility. Republican’s still working to suppress the vote. Voter Suppression has not gotten much better in 2016, In North Carolina, Republican lawmakers requested statistics on various voting practices, broken down by race. They then passed laws that limited voting and registration many ways that disproportionately affected African Americans, including cutting back on early voting. In a 2016 appellate court case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down a law that removed the first week of early voting. The court held that the GOP used the data they gathered to remove the first week of early voting because more African American voters voted during that week, and African American voters were more likely to vote for Democrats. Between 2008 and 2012 in North Carolina, 70% of African American voters voted early. After cuts to early voting, African American turnout in early voting was down by 8.7% (around 66,000 votes) in North Carolina. Republicans do not believe in voting rights, do not want black people or poor people to cast their votes, Republicans are modern day Nazi’s. Voting procedure disinformationThe republicans then tried a different tactic, giving voters false information about when and how to vote, leading them to fail to cast valid ballots, resulting in hundreds of thousands of uncountable votes which swayed elections in the favor of republicans. The republicans were still doing this in the 2018 elections. There is nothing to low which the republican wouldn’t do to nullify democrats votes for example 2016 which claimed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were arresting voters at polling places and included threatening language meant to intimidate Latino voters, polling place hoaxes, disinformation on remote voting options, suspicious texts, voting machine malfunction rumors, misleading photos and videos, and false voter fraud allegations. The Times reported that messages supposedly sent by Trump to voters in Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, and Georgia were actually disseminated from Republican organizations. In 2018, Trump actually spread information about defective machines in a single Utah county, giving the impression that such difficulties were occurring nationwide. The republican lying machine. There are many other instances and tactics used by the Republicans to suppress votes. Yet the republicans claim they are so American and support the Republic, they only support greed power and suppression of many kinds and forms. 1838 Gallatin County Election Day Battle In Missouri where white men gathered to stop Mormons from voting, there was a brawl. Jim Crow lawsWhere whites enacted the poll taxes , literacy tests etc. to suppress the black vote.19th and 2oth century-- stopped in 1965 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandalIn the 2002 New Hampshire Senate election phone jamming scandal, Republican officials attempted to reduce the number of Democratic voters by paying trained telemarketers in Idaho to make repeated hang-up calls to the telephone numbers used by the Democratic Party's ride-to the-polls phone lines on election day. By tying up the lines, voters seeking rides from the Democratic party would have more difficulty reaching the party to ask for transportation to and from their polling places. The republicans have slashed tires, called democrats and claimed if they voted they would be arrested, voting places had changed, called into question peoples addresses, required drivers licenses even if they didn’t own a car, swung billy clubs at people and yelled racial slurs. Tried to run people off the road the list could go on and on but I think you have the jest of the attempts and sometimes successful actions to suppress the vote in America by the Republican party and associates. The money which has been spent to carry out the suppression is huge. And it still continues today this very moment in the 2020 Presidential election. Trump and pals have tried to throw out many ballots, and will contest the results come Tuesday evening. It is sad, wrong and evil.
Tammy
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