Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claims "rampant voter suppression" was responsible for Bernie Sanders losing all 83 of Michigan's counties to Joe Biden. AOC told Fox News' Bret Baier yesterday:
Well, I think one thing that ... that isn't being talked about is the rampant voter suppression in this country. You know, obviously there's also more that we need to do in terms of turning out youth voters. We need to make sure that we're inspiring young people to turn out, but when you do turn out, you should not be waiting three, four, seven hours in order to vote. And that causes people to leave.
I hate to break it to AOC, but voluntarily leaving a line does not constitute voter suppression. Wikipedia defines voter suppression as "a strategy used to influence the outcome of an election by discouraging or preventing specific groups of people from voting."
What strategy was used to compel young Bernie Sanders supporters to leave long voting lines apart from their own volition? Given the magnitude of Sanders' loss to Biden in Michigan it would be like Barry Goldwater, George McGovern or Walter Mondale demanding a recount.
AOC's claims of voter suppression raised the ire of gun control advocate Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was killed at the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida in February 2018. Guttenberg tweeted:
This is ridiculous @AOC. It was not voter suppression that caused voters, including me, to vote for @JoeBiden. It was his position on gun safety. His decency. His civility. It is his leadership. Stop making excuses for voters not choosing Bernie.
I wonder if Guttenberg's tweet animated AOC. Probably not, but it should. Unless she is either just being disingenuous or has no idea what the hell she is talking about when it comes what voter suppression actually is.
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