Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist told the Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church a couple weeks ago that “Republicans are scared of you voting. Period. Republicans are scared of people who look like us voting.”
Sen. Erika , D-Taylor, was so fired up about the 39 election reforms bills her Senate Republicans colleagues introduced that she cut a press release headlined “GOP bills put lipstick on Jim Crow.”
The Michigan Republican Party called Gilchrist’s characterization and claims of racism “reckless.” If their bills are so racist, why do a majority of African American voters support a key tenant of the legislation — that all voters produce an ID at the polls?
So, we’re back to talking about voting reforms, which means another round of partisans talking past each other to rile up their respective political bases.
It leaves the rest of us to scratch our collective heads.
Why is it hard for Republicans to understand that Black voters in Detroit take offense to having the finger pointed at them seemingly every time the term “voter fraud” is tossed around?
Last year’s election was close. President Donald Trump was winning before the final votes in Democratic-controlled Wayne County were counted. You don’t need to be a Michigan electoral genius to figure out that unless Trump was up by a comfortable margin before Wayne County was finished that he likely would lose.
What if Wayne County finished counting first and Macomb County was the last to report? Joe Biden would have been up by a lot, but after Macomb was done counting, he would have only won by a little bit.
Is that good enough reason to suspect fraud? Should Democrats have descended on Macomb County like Republicans invaded the TCF Center in Detroit, waving flags and breathlessly claiming fraud over a process they didn’t understand?
Deep down, most Republicans know there wasn’t widespread fraud in Detroit. No, the election wasn’t run perfectly in Detroit. It NEVER is. Not at least in our lifetimes.
Obviously, more could be done to make sure all the numbers balance out at end. More than 70% of the city’s pollbooks shouldn’t be off, even if it’s by one or two votes.
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