I blogged before about how many of the new voting laws that we see popping up in states across the country are effectively ways to disenfranchise people of color. It's really hard to actually catch politicians openly admitting this as a political strategy. Usually these are couched in narratives of protecting the institution of voting, and after all, who can be against that. But often these arguments are based on mythical threats. They're effective at scaring people and generating public support, but again, they're usually not based on any real threat. In the report below, however, these folks are caught red-handed. A rare accomplishment.
Courtesy of TalkingPointsMemo by way of the Birmingham News: Here's the key paragraph:
Beason, Lewis, and their political allies sought to defeat SB380 partly because they believed the absence of the referendum on the ballot would lower African-American voter turnout during the 2010 elections. One of the government’s recordings captured Beason and Lewis discussing political strategy with other influential Republican legislative allies. A confederate warned: “Just keep in mind if [a pro-gambling] bill passes and we have a referendum in November, every black in this state will be bused to the polls. And that ain’t gonna help.”
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