High Turnout and Happy Voters Under Law Democrats Cynically Called “Jim Crow 2.0”
'Republicans said this was unhinged, phony outrage over a commonsense law that would make it both easy to vote and hard to cheat. Democrats said the new voting rules were evil and racist and the death of democracy… We were right, and they were wrong… These people lied. They invoked our darkest history and slandered half the country because they wanted more power for themselves… I don’t think the American people will forget who kept their credibility and who lit theirs on fire.’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered the following remarks today on the Senate floor regarding voting laws:
“At this time one year ago, the Democratic Party was in the middle of a hysterical meltdown over a new voting law in the state of Georgia.
“The President of the United States declared the state’s modest changes to election procedures were, ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ He said the law was about ‘voter suppression and election subversion.’ He said citizens should doubt, ‘whether your vote counts at all.’
“The sitting President of the United States said lawmakers’ positions on this bill would define whether we were, ‘on the side of Dr. King or George Wallace… John Lewis or Bull Connor… Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis.’
“The Senate Democratic Leader said that his fellow United States Senators who are Republicans were, ‘supporting the reenactment of those Jim Crow laws.’
“My colleague from New York, as the Senate Majority Leader, is supposed to safeguard and steward this institution.
“Instead, he tried to destroy the Senate and ‘nuke’ the 60-vote threshold so that Democrats could take over all 50 states’ election laws on a partisan basis. And 47 of the other 49 Democrats went right along with it.
“The liberal hysteria spread to the press and the private sector. Woke activists started talking about boycotting companies like Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines. Major League Baseball caved and moved the All-Star Game out of Atlanta, directly harming the local economy for the sake of symbolism.
“Republicans said this was unhinged, phony outrage over a commonsense law that would make it both easy to vote and hard to cheat. Democrats said the new voting rules were evil and racist and the death of democracy.
“Well, the facts are now in. We have hard evidence.
“After the new bill took effect, in early 2022, the state of Georgia held a primary election. Do you know what happened? Record turnout for a primary.
“Then, last November, Georgia had a general election. And what happened? A new record for ballots cast in a midterm.
“Oh, some might say, but that doesn’t tell us anything about the voting conditions. Maybe there were terribly long lines and sinister road blocks, and voters persevered in spite of them?
“Except — an academic research center at the University of Georgia spent weeks conducting conducted a major survey of Georgia voters after the election.
“Here’s what they found.
“72 percent of all Georgia voters, and 73 percent of black voters specifically, said their voting experience was ‘excellent.’
“92 percent of all voters, and 92 percent of black voters specifically, said either that voting had gotten easier since the prior election or that there was no difference.
“More than 70 percent of black voters in Georgia said they waited less than 10 minutes to cast their ballot.
“This is all with the supposed ‘Jim Crow’ law in action:
“Record high turnout. Lightning-fast voting lines. And a supermajority of African-American voters rating their experience under the new voting rules as ‘excellent.’
“Here’s the icing on the cake. The same Democratic Party that cheered Major League Baseball for moving the All-Star Game out of Atlanta… now has Atlanta as a shortlist for their next Democratic National Convention.
“We were right, and they were wrong. But it goes beyond that.
“These people lied. They invoked our darkest history and slandered half the country because they wanted more power for themselves.
“Some of the most powerful people in our entire country, including the President of the United States, staked their personal credibility to these claims.
“President Biden screamed from a podium that the bad old days of Jim Crow were back… over this!
“The Majority Leader from New York tried to destroy the Senate… over this!
“The American people were subjected to months of baseless, pointless media handwringing… over this!
“And the country is supposed to go on pretending like nothing happened?
“We’re all supposed to take the President and the Vice President and Senate Democrats seriously the next time they start shouting and waving their arms about the next supposed crisis?
“I don’t think so.
“I don’t think the American people will forget who kept their credibility and who lit theirs on fire.”
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Related Issues: Senate Democrats, House Democrats, Campaigns & Elections
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