Yes, Trump is the President, and yes, he did actually win. HOWEVER, all the steps that involve voting have been manipulated by the GOP for years to get him to win. Let's take a cursory look at how the Republican Party is cheating Democracy so they can stay in power...
1. Removing early voting
Friendly reminder folks
GiphyObama was able to win because people were able to vote early. Early voting lets people vote at their convenience and not force them to take off work in the middle of the week to go vote. Early voting also greatly reduces the number of people at the polls in one day. Early voting is primarily used by non-Whites who usually vote Democrat, which is why the GOP has been trying to reduce early voting for about a decade.
2. Closing polling places.
Taken from a speaker at the RNC
GiphyBrian Kemp, the Republican candidate for Georgia, attempted to close 7 out of 9 polling places in Black-majority areas. He claimed it was because they didn’t meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act but he was almost immediately shot down. Had he closed these places, tens of thousands would have, most likely, been unable to vote.
3. Stopping voter registrations
GiphyBrian Kemp has also stopped the processing of 53,000 voter registrations, most of which were sent in by non-White people. It could be a coincidence that they were mostly Black, but considering that he's running against a Black woman, it's unlikely. Honestly, I could write a whole article on how he’s been just a tad racist but I refuse to be sidetracked! Other than this sidetrack... anyways, moving on.
4. Keeping felons from voting.
GiphyIf someone serves their time and pays their debt to society, why can't they vote afterwards? They count towards population and pay taxes but they can't vote. They're the current embodiment of taxation without representation. To be fair, this isn’t a Left or Right issue, just an “everybody gets a vote” issue. The GOP is the Party of family values, though, so they’re the most committed to keeping felons from voting.
5. Gerrymandering
Seen here, Conservatives stealing the whole cake when they only represent a slice.
GiphyGerrymandering is where districts are redrawn to unfairly help one side over the other. Thanks to gerrymandering, a State with 80% of the populace voting Democrat could still end up with more Republicans representing them. In fact, the State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania actually had to redraw its districts to combat gerrymandering, which has garnered widespread scorn from Pennsylvanian Republicans. Sure, they probably shouldn’t have redrawn the districts in an election year, but the Republicans also shouldn’t have tilted every possible scale in their favor, as well.
6. Voter ID Laws
GiphyDecades ago, in order to keep Black people from being able to vote, the people in charge came up with voter tests. In order to vote you would have to be able to read and write as well as bring ID. At the time, the percentage of literate Black people was very small, so they couldn't really vote someone into office. In some states nowadays, everyone is still required to bring ID to prove that they are who they say they are. Republicans claim that this is to eliminate as much voter fraud as possible, but it disproportionately affects people of color. People of color are less likely to have drivers licenses or multiple forms of identification and so many can’t vote.
