Democrats know they don’t have much of a chance of getting through their voting bill, HR. 1/SR. 1, at least as it stands right now.
That has led some, including former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, to endorse a compromise proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) that requires voter ID “with allowable alternatives (utility bill, etc.) to prove identity to vote.” But it also had other things to which the GOP would not agree, such as automatic voter registration and gerrymandering changes. Additionally, it was still basically having the federal government dictate to the states, when the states are supposed to control elections, in accordance with the Constitution.
In endorsing the compromise, Stacey Abrams acted like she had never been against voter ID before.
“That’s one of the fallacies of Republican talking points that have been deeply disturbing. No one has ever objected to having to prove who you are to vote. It’s been part of our nation’s history since the inception of voting,” Abrams told CNN.
Except that’s exactly what she did, as RNC Research points out here, juxtaposing two clips.
Why the change of heart, @staceyabrams? pic.twitter.com/Le11w1pjJS
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 18, 2021
Then once again, here she was in 2019, after she lost the Georgia election (yes, she lost and there was no voter suppression), disparaging voter ID laws (at 1:19).
In 2019, she said that voter ID laws “rig” elections, and create “a constriction on who has the right to use that right [to vote.]”https://t.co/2z8MXWWRxF
— Vince Coglianese (@VinceCoglianese) June 17, 2021
She’s not even the only Democrat — or even the only Democrat from Georgia — who has put down voter ID in the past.
Here’s Raphael Warnock, who’s now a Democratic senator from Georgia, in 2012.
Democrat Raphael Warnock today to NBC News: "I have never been opposed to voter ID"
Warnock in 2012: "most destructive assault on the voting rights… since the ugly days of Jim Crow… it all began right here in Georgia with these unnecessary and unjustifiable voter ID laws…" pic.twitter.com/K7SlG9Zo13
— Nathan Brand (@NathanBrandWA) June 17, 2021
So, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) asked a great question: are the woke corporations who boycotted Georgia now going to boycott Stacey Abrams?
Stacey Abrams on April 20, 2021: Voter ID is racist.
Stacey Abrams on June 17, 2021: Supports Manchin's election plan that includes nationwide voter ID.
Will @CocaCola, @Delta and @MLB boycott Stacey Abrams??
— Jim Banks (@RepJimBanks) June 17, 2021
Abrams went after the Georgia election reform law earlier this year, accusing Republicans of being racist for wanting to have election security, including voter ID. As a result of the furor she and other Democrats caused against the law, Major League Baseball pulled the All-Star Game out of the state and cost Georgians, including a lot of minorities and minority businesses, $100 million in anticipated revenue. Talk about a backfire and something that was harmful to her state — all because Democrats wanted to play political games against Republicans.
But her flip-flop now on voter ID is not likely to help the Democrats in any event, as I previously reported.
From the Washington Examiner:
“Senate Democrats seem to have reached a so-called ‘compromise’ election takeover among themselves,” McConnell said in a statement. “In reality, the plan endorsed by Stacey Abrams is no compromise. It still subverts the First Amendment to supercharge cancel culture and the Left’s name-and-shame campaign model. It takes redistricting away from state legislatures and hands it over to computers. And it still retains S. 1’s rotten core: an assault on the fundamental idea that states, not the federal government, should decide how to run their own elections.”
In a separate statement about S.1, McConnell called it “a bad bill filled with bad ideas, and I’ve been crystal clear about opposing it from the very beginning. But for Democrats themselves, coming up with a compelling rationale for this unprecedented political power-grab has been a long and winding road.”
With Cocaine Mitch leading against the compromise, it’s not likely to pass.
But the flip-flop by Abrams does show how patently political and false she is.
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