According to CNN, the first Black president attended a virtual fundraiser for the National Democratic Redistricting Committee with former Attorney General Eric Holder and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Obama discussed strategies that have been used to suppress voters over the past several years including gerrymandering and more “straightforward efforts by Republican-led states.
“If we don’t stop these kinds of efforts now, what we are going to see is more and more contested elections, contested not in the sense of healthy competition but contested in terms of who wins, who loses. We are going to see a further delegitimizing of our democracy,” Obama said.
Obama added former President Donald Trump violated a “core tenet that we count the votes and then declare a winner.”
“And rather than supporting the secretary of state of Georgia or the, you know, commission in, you know, Arizona that had done the counting and performed their duties properly, etc., what you saw was Republican elected officials all side with the president out of fear, I guess, leaving many of these folks who were Republicans themselves and were just doing their jobs hanging out to dry,” Obama added.
After losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, Trump refused to take the loss and instead filed more than 50 post-election lawsuits, most of which were either tossed or dismissed. When his lawsuits didn’t work, Trump riled up his base to “storm” the Capitol Building, which led to the deaths of five people and the apprehension and arrest of more than 400 people.
Republican-led states have backed Trump and his false election claims. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who Trump relentlessly attacked after Joe Biden won the state, passed a restrictive voting bill and even had Rep. Park Cannon arrested for attempting to talk Kemp out of signing the bill.
The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Georgia over its restrictive voting laws. Obama also said Monday he believes the Senate will hold a second vote on the Democratic voting rights bill that was blocked by Republicans last week.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University 14 states have enacted more than 20 restrictive voting laws this year.
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