Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill appears to be growing increasingly frustrated with the behavior of United States Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham). Merrill is a Republican and these two members of Congress are Democrats, but his frustration appears to go beyond their different beliefs.
Merrill appeared on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” Tuesday and was asked if Jones is lying when he claims there are voter suppression efforts by Republicans.
He explained that Jones and Sewell are promoting notions that are not backed up by the facts of the situation. He highlighted that Alabama has seen record-breaking voter registration in Alabama since he has taken office.
Merrill noted, “[S]ince January 19, 2015, we have registered 1,229,399 new voters, we now have a record 3,470,811 registered voters in Alabama.”
Merrill also seemed exacerbated by Jones’ insistence on promoting the myth of a voter suppression effort in the state.
“For whatever reason, he is attempting to promote a narrative which is unrealistic and one that has been exposed as being ill-informed and one that has been exposed as not being accurate at any level,” he stated
But the ire was not reserved for Alabama’s Democrat federal representatives. Merrill also feels there has been a failure of fact-checking by the mainstream media.
“I don’t know what it’s going to take for the mainstream media to help us promote what we have done, the record-breaking area, of voter registration and voter participation,” he lamented.
My takeaway:
Secretary Merrill, of course, is 100 percent correct here. Jones has not provided one piece of evidence of voter suppression, and there doesn’t appear to be anyone in the mainstream media willing to challenge his assertions.
What is obvious to anyone looking at this with a fair-minded nature is that Jones is attempting to create a scenario where minority groups feel they are being harmed by the Republicans and will then be motivated to show up at the polls to bolster Jones’ long-shot chances are re-election.
There is evidence that this is not a bad idea, although it is completely dishonest. In 2018, media outlets nation-wide stoked fear of voter suppression efforts in Florida, Georgia and in North Dakota, to name a few places, hoping to push Democratic candidates over the top.
These efforts largely failed, but record turnout among “suppressed” groups in the midterms was found.
The junior senator’s dishonest efforts may help his chances, but they continue to damage Jones’ home state’s reputation that recent history, voter registration numbers and his very election would indicate we have moved passed.
Listen:
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
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