Wednesday on CNN’s “Newsroom,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) accused the Republican Party of being “afraid of the vote.” Thus, she argued Republicans were attempting to limit voting by mail.
Host Brooke Baldwin asked, “Do you any concern how things will go in November just from what they experienced in Georgia late last night.”
Pelosi said, “I agree with the distinguished mayor had to say, and she has firsthand experience in the voter suppression that exists, and it takes many forms including not being ready for an election that you know what your responsibilities are. Let me say that in the HEROES Act which we hope will be passed which supports our first responders and our health care workers, our heroes in all of this, our teachers and the rest, against the fight against the coronavirus, and helps state and localities do their job — also having their considerable resources for voting by mail. This is not only a democracy issue of helping people vote at home, therefore, making it easier for them, it is a health issue in the time of the coronavirus. To see what happened in Georgia, where in certain neighborhoods that are more affluent and more white, it took you 20 minutes to vote. But it took hours in other neighborhoods. One could be suspicious that could be by design. So, again, in the bill, we have $3.6 billion—”
Baldwin asked, “May I jump in. When you say forgive me when I saw it could be suspicious and by design, what do you mean by that?”
Pelosi said, “Yeah, by design.”
Baldwin said, “Who did the designing?”
Pelosi said, “Well, those who are responsible. That would be the secretaries of state and those who are responsible in different states. It is largely secretaries of state. But you have to make a decision to remove obstacles to participation in voting. That is your responsibility. If you send out machines prematurely where there isn’t adequate training and personnel to deal with the voting, you’re asking for trouble. And you don’t seem to mind when it cost other people hours to vote. So let’s just assume that, hope for the best. Always hope for the best but prepare for the worst. And what we have to do is make sure that we have the legal strength that we need to fight all of this.hat we have the proper preparation of people to help other people at the polls, that we hold those responsible for sending out the vote by mail accountable. There is no surprise here. It happened. Now let’s make sure it doesn’t happen again. This is about the essence of who we are as a democracy. The sacred right to vote and that they would trample on that or ignore their responsibilities to it is something that we must address. And as the mayor referenced, there was intervention in the elections in 2016. There is no surprise in any of this.”
She added, “But I will tell you if you saw the Republican playbook on voter suppression, you would see that there is a plan here that says we’re afraid of the vote, we’re going to do everything we can to limit it. Limit it in terms of geography, locations, and in terms of timing as to how late or in advance polls are open and limit it in terms of mechanics of the election when it comes to voting by mail. But you know what, we don’t agonize, we organize. We’re going to be ready for all of this — because that is what we owe our Constitution, and that is what we owe our democracy. That is what we owe our children and all of the American people.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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