Republican Voter Suppression Already Impacting Midterm Elections

Voters are being purged, ballot applications are being rejected, and polling stations are shutting down - and we still have 9 months to go before the midterm elections. The major pieces of legislation passed by Republican-controlled states to curtail our voting rights are having the outcomes that Republicans wanted to see, and this may be one of the major ways they are able to regain power in this year's elections. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what's happening.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

We're now roughly eight and a half ish months away from the 2022 midterm elections. And unfortunately, as we get closer and closer to the midterms, we're already starting to see a horrendous impact on the Republican Jim Crow voter suppression bills that have been passed within the last year, specifically in states like Texas and Georgia. Because even though the voting hasn't begun yet, you know, what has begun is the people requesting the absentee ballot. The people requesting the vote by mail ballot. And unfortunately in both Texas, and we are seeing an overwhelming number of African American applications being rejected. And yes, it is typically along racial lines that these things are getting rejected. Especially in Texas, we have thousands and thousands and thousands of people getting those rejection letters saying no. For some reason, you do not meet this criteria or no, for some reason you did not fill this out correctly. Therefore you are not allowed to vote by mail. And of course, in addition to that, they're removing drop boxes, making it even harder to vote by mail or to vote absentee. They're scaling down the no of polling places in predominantly black counties in both Texas and Georgia. And of course elsewhere, making it harder for people to be able to go vote because there's gonna be longer lines and they have to stand there even longer.

And all of this is happening now, even though the voting has not started, we haven't even gotten to the pro I marry voting yet, but we're already starting to see the negative impacts about what is happening from these Republican voter suppression laws. And let's not forget, this was the point, right? This is exactly what they wanted to happen here. They wanted to strip these people of their right to vote. Not by always outright stripping it from them, but by making it such a hassle, by throwing up as many hurdles as possible that these people physically wouldn't be able to do it. So even though they still have their right to vote, most of them, they get more to that in a second. The barriers that they would have to get through do make it possible. And of course, like I said, that is where they still retain their right to vote in both states.

And again, other states, but Texas and Georgia, kind of the focus here because they're the ones that, you know, Democrats could make serious inroads. Um, other people are just finding, they've been straight up removed from the voting rules. So we've got good old fashioned voter per just happening in these states too. Maybe, oh, you haven't voted in the last two elections. Guess what? You don't exist on the voting rules anymore. You go have to, you have to go reregister. Oh, I'm sorry, but Mr. John Smith, there's a John Smith. That's sitting in federal jail here in Texas. So we don't know which is which, so we're removing both of you from the voting roles, cuz you know, you have the same name and surely there's nothing else we can do to figure out which is the right John Smith here. So people are losing their rights to vote, losing their ability to vote through all of these hurdles and it's going to get worse. It is starting to happen in other states as well. And as we get closer to the election, more and more people are going to become disenfranchised because that is the only way Republicans see a path to victory in 2022 and on.