The White House is still unwilling to admit it was wrong about Georgia’s 2021 voting law.
But despite all the fear-mongering language about how the law would lead to voters being disenfranchised, records were shattered for early voting in the state in the general election and run-off election.
And while Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) prevailed in Tuesday’s run-off election, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre insists there was voter suppression.
On Wednesday, Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich noted, “The White House and the president were very vocal about Georgia’s new election law when it was signed in March of 2021. The big argument from the White House was that it would suppress voting. But there was record turnout in the primary, there was record turnout in the general, record turnout in the runoff in early voting, absentee ballots, and in-person voting.”
“The President, though, called it ‘Jim Crow in the 21st century’ and a ‘blatant attack on the Constitution.’ So does he still see it that way?” she asked.
Jean-Pierre responded, “What I can say, not going to get into specifics of your question, but you all have reported this, that there was suppression, that we saw throughout the Georgia election. So that is something that was reported on.”
“Look, even with that, the American people came out. They came out in a fashion to make their voices loud and clear,” she continued.
Watch the video below:
KJP: "There was suppression that we saw throughout the Georgia election…but look, even with that, the American people came out." pic.twitter.com/QEmIjregab
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 7, 2022
Time Magazine released a report in November detailing some challenges Georgians had trying to vote. Several of the people interviewed in the story were unable to vote due to being on probation — a provision of the new law. Another person said she takes public transportation and it would have taken her three hours to vote, but wound up carpooling and was able to vote anyways. That’s not exactly Jim Crow in the 21st Century.
Meanwhile, Warnock listed long lines at polling stations as a sign of voter suppression during his victory speech on Tuesday.
If long lines alone are a sign of voter suppression, the White House should be talking about voter suppression in Arizona as there were long lines and issues with tabulation machines. Maybe they can even invite failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake to talk about it.
The fact of the matter is, the state saw a strong turnout in 2022. And even though the law imposed new limitations on mail-in voting, Georgians were able to cast their ballots and shatter records.
President Joe Biden ridiculously attacked the bill and his fearmongering did not pan out.
In October, Jean-Pierre insisted voter suppression and high voter turnout can occur at the same time, but did not elaborate. She also declined to provide examples of voter suppression and claimed that would be getting into politics.
However, she also claimed there “have been a host of anti-voter policies forced on states,” which is apparently not political somehow. It is convenient that according to her it is not political to criticize such legislation, but it would be political to provide evidence backing up that criticism.
Jean-Pierre should either provide some evidence of voter suppression, other than vaguely pointing to reports, or admit the law was actually not some atrocious voter suppression measure.