A lady in Texas failed to fill out her mail-in ballot for early voting that just opened up in Texas and the nets blame ‘voter suppression. They went on to call voter laws ‘Jim Crow 2.0’ and claimed that this was a racist attempt to prevent the woman, who didn’t fill out her forms, from voting.
I swear you can’t make this crap up.
Believe me, I have failed to fill out plenty of forms in my lifetime but I have never contributed it to anything other than my own absentmindedness.
Transcript
EVA PILGRIM: Well, now to marking Black History Month and President’s Day with early voting underway in Texas. Deep concerns about the new laws that many people say makes it harder for people to cast their votes. Rachel Scott is back with more on the changes and the impact they are having. Good morning again, Rachel.
RACHEL SCOTT: Hey Eva, good morning. So, more than a dozen states across the country have already passed laws making it tougher for people to vote. But we’re getting the test of that in Texas where one voter says it took her 28 days before she could finally cast her ballot.
[Cuts to video]
This morning with Texas voters heading to the polls for the nation’s first primary —
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 1: Get out and vote.
SCOTT: The state’s new and strict election law is being put to the test.
What was the first thing that crossed your mind when you learned of the new election laws in the state of Texas?
PAM GASKIN: Jim Crow 2.0.
SCOTT: 74-year-old Pam Gaskin has been voting by mail for nearly a decade. She says it’s never been this hard to cast her ballot. [Emotional music]
Have you ever experienced anything like this before?
GASKIN: No. [Transition] You don’t know which way to turn.
SCOTT: Pam and her husband Michael who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease were denied ballots twice. And they are among thousands of voters who have had ballot applications rejected in Texas.
One reason, for the first time, voters are required to submit their social security number or driver’s license number and it has to be the same form of I.D. they used when they registered to vote. For Pam that was 46 years ago.
GASKIN: I’m 74 years old. I certainly didn’t remember what I put on my application.
SCOTT: It took three forms, 28 days, several calls, and some guessing before her mail-in voter was accepted.
GASKIN: These laws were to stop certain classes and categories of people from voting.
SCOTT: Across the country, 19 states have passed laws that make it tougher for people to vote. Civil rights organizations sounding the alarm.
MIMI MARZIANI (Texas Civil Rights Project, pres./CEO): We’ve seen extraordinary results coming from the power of the black community in Texas. And unfortunately, it is exactly because of that power that we’ve seen state officials react by trying to make voting more difficult for that community.
SCOTT: Republicans in Texas insist the new law protects the integrity of elections. Some voters support the changes.
In your opinion these new changes you see them as helping protect elections?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN 2: Yes, I do. I don’t want any fraud.
SCOTT: But Pam worries others won’t go to the lengths she did to cast their ballot.
GASKIN: I want everybody who can hear me say this to hear this, it is worth it. It is worth it. Don’t give up. Don’t give in.
[Cuts back to live]
SCOTT: So, some civil rights organizations say that this is a test run for that new election law, but they say what’s even more concerning is that some states are looking to copy it ahead of the midterm elections. Eva.
PILGRIM: And the thing we all know: just how important it is for everyone to vote. Rachel Scott for us, there. Thank you.
Leave a Comment