Tuesday’s debacle in AZ is another example of what we are up against. It isn’t new, and it doesn’t apply to one candidate or one group of supporters only. It is a deliberate plan to disenfranchise the people who vote for Democrats. Since 2010 we have known these days were coming. And that’s why so many of us have been fighting against Voter Suppression for a while. I am happy now, to welcome the Sanders supporters to the fight.
I realize that on first blush it appears that many of Sen. Sanders supporters thought this was an effort to help Clinton and hurt Sanders. By now I think most supporters understand that this was simply another example of what the GOP has been doing to try to win elections by cheating. The long lines and problems with registration weren’t unique to AZ. There were long lines in NC during the primary there. Those long lines happened to coincide with areas of predominate AA support. And there were other problems in NC’s primary election. This IS NOT an accident. Something else it is not, is that this IS NOT something that Democrats are ignoring or that is OK with Democrats just because Hillary Clinton won that one primary in that one state.
I’ve read several diaries and comments here in the last day or so implying everything from “the front page won’t address election fraud issues in AZ” to essentially, “the election was stolen from Sanders”. And none of that is true. What is true is that Democrats have known there were going to be problems with upcoming elections and Democrats have been fighting to fix those problems. In Virginia, in Ohio, and in North Carolina. Not only that, those problems and how to fight them has been discussed frequently at DKos:
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(this is just a quick list of some of the most recent diaries I found in a few minutes)
I understand the frustration of the Sanders supporters about what happened in AZ. And I realize that many Sanders supporters don’t like the DNC and have negative feelings about the Democratic Party in general. But, for right now, the Democratic party and Democrats have been fighting the GOP created problem of voter suppression much longer and much harder than Sen. Sanders and his supporters have been. I understand that perhaps the fight wasn’t real until it was Sanders supporters who had to wait in line or whose registration forms were not correct. However, Democrats don’t need to be saying “We told you so” to Sanders supporters. Instead, I encourage everyone who thinks it’s important to “Let All the People Vote”, to welcome the Sanders supporters to the fight. Forward Together is what it will take in order to defeat those who would keep us from our ability to vote!