Report: Voter Suppression May Have Contributed To Trump’s Election Victory In Wisconsin
- 7 years ago
The stunning results of the 2016 presidential election continue to be analyzed, with a new Mother Jones report alleging that Donald Trump won the crucial state of Wisconsin likely because of voter suppression.
The stunning results of the 2016 presidential election continue to be analyzed, with a new Mother Jones report alleging that Donald Trump won the crucial state of Wisconsin likely because of voter suppression.
At the heart of the controversy is the state’s strict voter ID law, passed by Republicans in 2011, which requires residents to show a specific form of identification like a driver’s license or passport before being allowed to vote.
The New York Times reports that while supporters have attributed this and similar measures to preventing voter fraud, some conservative lawmakers have reportedly admitted that the requirement helps to prevent minorities and lower income adults--who are more likely to be Democrats--from participating.
As such, the Mother Jones piece states that “in Wisconsin and beyond, voter suppression played a much larger role than is commonly understood.”
“I would estimate that 25 to 35 percent of the 41,000 decrease in voters, or somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 voters, likely did not vote due to the photo ID requirement,” Neil Albrecht, Milwaukee’s election director told the publication. "It is very probable that between the photo ID law and the changes to voter registration, enough people were prevented from voting to have changed the outcome of the presidential election in Wisconsin."
In fact, the progressive group Priorities USA has estimated that as many as 200,000 votes--many of which would likely have come from African-Americans and Democrats--may have been suppressed in Wisconsin where Trump won by less than 23,000 votes.
A post-election assessment by the Washington Post also acknowledged that Republican efforts to keep mostly liberal voters away probably contributed to Hillary Clinton’s loss, but it concluded that her inability to generate enthusiasm and the investigation into her emails were also likely factors.
Meanwhile, the statistics site FiveThirtyEight credited Trump’s victory to his “superior electoral college strategy.”
The stunning results of the 2016 presidential election continue to be analyzed, with a new Mother Jones report alleging that Donald Trump won the crucial state of Wisconsin likely because of voter suppression.
At the heart of the controversy is the state’s strict voter ID law, passed by Republicans in 2011, which requires residents to show a specific form of identification like a driver’s license or passport before being allowed to vote.
The New York Times reports that while supporters have attributed this and similar measures to preventing voter fraud, some conservative lawmakers have reportedly admitted that the requirement helps to prevent minorities and lower income adults--who are more likely to be Democrats--from participating.
As such, the Mother Jones piece states that “in Wisconsin and beyond, voter suppression played a much larger role than is commonly understood.”
“I would estimate that 25 to 35 percent of the 41,000 decrease in voters, or somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 voters, likely did not vote due to the photo ID requirement,” Neil Albrecht, Milwaukee’s election director told the publication. "It is very probable that between the photo ID law and the changes to voter registration, enough people were prevented from voting to have changed the outcome of the presidential election in Wisconsin."
In fact, the progressive group Priorities USA has estimated that as many as 200,000 votes--many of which would likely have come from African-Americans and Democrats--may have been suppressed in Wisconsin where Trump won by less than 23,000 votes.
A post-election assessment by the Washington Post also acknowledged that Republican efforts to keep mostly liberal voters away probably contributed to Hillary Clinton’s loss, but it concluded that her inability to generate enthusiasm and the investigation into her emails were also likely factors.
Meanwhile, the statistics site FiveThirtyEight credited Trump’s victory to his “superior electoral college strategy.”