Lemon Touts Claims of 'Voter Suppression' by Georgia Republicans

October 19th, 2018 6:02 AM

Twice this week, CNN host Don Lemon has given attention to claims that Georgia Republicans have engaged in "voter suppression" against black voters without mentioning key parts of the Republican side of the argument.

And MSNBC finally mentioned that Georgia Republican gubernatorial nominee and current Secretary of State Brian Kemp has charged that "sloppy" work by a liberal group is to blame many of the 53,000 registrations mostly of minorities being put on hold, although New York Times reporter Alstead Herndon dismissed the claims as he appeared as a guest.

On Monday's CNN Tonight, Lemon turned to liberal contributor Hilary Rosen and posed: "Some 80 percent of the people in limbo are minorities, so do you think that's intentional?"

 

 

Rosen claimed that the registrations are on hold because "the white Republicans in Georgia" want to stop Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams from being elected governor. CNN contributor David Swerdlick agreed that Republicans want lower voter turnout of minorities and young people to help them win.

And on Wednesday's show, Lemon brought up the case of a privately provided bus being prevented from transporting black voters from a senior citizen center on the first day of early voting without mentioning that the center normallly provides such transportation to vote.

 

 

Lemon began the segment:

Charges of voter suppression have been flying in Georgia where Democrat Stacey Abrams and Republican Brian Kemp are running for governor. ... Some 40 black residents at a senior living center were told to get off a bus taking them to vote. The county clerk called the center raising concerns about allowing the bus to take residents away from the center in the city of Louisville.

He soon added: "Well, the seniors agreed to get off the bus but were eventually able to vote later."

Liberal contributor Bakari Sellers complained that it is "amazing the lengths some individuals will go" to "keep people from exercising their franchise." He then asserted that Republicans "play games with this franchise."

After Lemon again brought up the thousands of registrations on hold in Georgia, The Atlantic's Adam Serwer tied in America's history of trying to prevent minorities from voting: "Historically, the country of the United States of America has not wanted black people or poor people to vote, so they've thrown up obstacles."

Not mentioned on either night was Kemp's charge that the New Georgia Project, founded by Democratic nominee Abrams, which disproportionately registers minority voters, has a history of sloppily handling new voter registrations.

After MSNBC has also repeatedly hit the "voter suppression" issue over the past week, the liberal news network finally mentioned the issue of liberal groups being to blame for mishandled minority registrations as host Katy Tur brought up this angle on her Wednesday afternoon show.

But Herndon questionably suggested that the charges were without merit in spite of Secretary of State Kemp investigating the group several years earlier.