The Republican party has long supported laws that make it more difficult for people to vote, citing potential for widespread voter fraud that doesn't actually exist.
A huge component of this effort lies in voter ID laws—laws that mandate a person to show a government-issued photo ID. From the year 2000 to 2014, there were only 31 credible instances of in-person voter impersonation—the only form of voter fraud that ID laws could prevent—out of a billion ballots.
Voter ID laws depress turnout and disproportionately prohibit millions of Americans from participating in the Democratic process, especially within marginalized communities.
With voter fraud hysteria ramping up in the face of President Donald Trump's refusal to accept the reality of his loss to President-elect Joe Biden, voter ID laws are once again seeing support from those working to undermine the people's votes.
At a hearing in Michigan orchestrated by Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, a so-called witness advocated for voter ID laws because she didn't think poll workers would be able to tell Chinese voters apart.
Watch below.
The woman said:
"A lot of people think all Indians look alike. I think all Chinese look alike. So how would you tell? If some Chao shows up, you can be anybody and you can vote and ... anybody can vote on my behalf, so ID should be a basic requirement."
People were shocked at the level of racism in the woman's assertion.
And yet, the sentiment was emblematic of four years' worth of dogwhistles from Trump and his allies.
Yikes.
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