After Georgia went blue for the first time since 1992 in the 2020 presidential election and in a pair of key Senate runoffs that delivered Democrats a razor-thin majority in the Senate, Republican state legislatures across the country have introduced a range of proposals designed to limit participation at the ballot box.
In Georgia itself, a bill recently passed requiring ID for absentee ballots, limiting ballot drop boxes, and effectively forbidding the provision of water to voters in line.
For decades, limited polling facilities, often in predominantly Black communities, have resulted in hours-long lines for voters to cast a ballot. Because Election Day isn't a national holiday in the United States, the length of these lines often forces voters to leave, whether they must return to work, they're fatigued, or other reasons.
Republicans have introduced these suppressive bills under the guise of "election security," frequently dismissing concerns that they limit the people's right to vote.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro was the latest to dismiss these concerns, comparing lengthy voting lines to long lines at Disneyland.
Watch below.
After arguing that voter suppression laws can't possibly be racist because they don't explicitly mention race, Shapiro said:
"Voter suppression doesn't involve long lines any more than long lines at Disneyland are ride suppression."
Unlike voting, riding roller coasters at Disneyland isn't a Constitutional right, nor does a vast number of people being excluded from a roller coaster affect who runs Disneyland.
The fallacy was quickly called out on social media.
But even if the two were equal, that would only further emphasize disturbing parallels in the voting process.
Shortly after the voter suppression bill in Georgia passed, another bill was introduced by Florida Republicans to echo Georgia's effective prohibition on giving refreshments to voters in line.
Mount Sinai Medical
@Acyn/X