SCOTUS Bans AZ Ballot Harvesting; Media Wonders Why Black Turnout Is Down

The drumbeat from the media in the last few days is that the African American vote for Clinton is down this year from the level of support that Obama had and that this is causing great concern in the Clinton campaign. I have no idea whether it is causing any concern but I did see Robbie Mook, Clinton’s campaign manager, stating that African American early voting numbesr are actually up by 22%. I also remember the times in the primary this year when the African American vote was Hillary’s bulwark against the challenge of Bernie Sanders. It’s hard to believe that these voters are any less motivated now than they were then. It would be no surprise if African Americans were slightly enthused by Clinton. After all, Obama is the first African American President. But I doubt that any slight dip in enthusiasm will translate into much fewer votes. So I’m not sure where these media reports are coming from.

What is distressing about these media reports is the fact that they manage to discuss this issue without hardly ever even mentioning the massive voter suppression efforts that Republicans have initiated in this campaign. Even at this late date, courts are ruling on GOP voting restrictions in Arizona, Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina and even Kansas. Today, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling and allowed the ban on “ballot harvesting” in Arizona to go into effect, disenfranchising more minority and disabled voters. (Who was the swing “liberal” justice who broker the 4-4 split which would have let the lower court ruling stand?) Take a look at the map of just seven states where over 850 polling places have been closed since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Surely voter suppression is an important point to be made when talking about supposedly depressed African American turnout. Too bad the media can’t be bothered to do it.