April 29th 2024.
On April 25, a group called Souls to the Polls, which advocates for voting rights, raised concerns about the newly appointed executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Andrew Iverson. They believed that he was involved in a scheme to inundate the group with requests from supporters of Donald Trump to be driven to the polls. According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, the controversial text messages were sent when Iverson was the leader of Trump Victory's Wisconsin branch, a joint venture between the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee.
In a statement, Souls to the Polls Wisconsin Executive Director Greg Lewis expressed his disappointment in the messages, stating that they were yet another example of racist voter suppression tactics. He was joined by other leaders such as Samuel Libert, the Wisconsin director of All Voting is Local, and Angela Lang, the executive director of Black Leaders Organizing Communities, in condemning Iverson and the Wisconsin Republican Party as a whole.
Libert called the tactic a blatant attempt to disrupt the democratic process and specifically target minority communities. He emphasized that by focusing on an organization that serves the Black community, Souls to the Polls, the ultimate goal was to suppress Black voters. He also highlighted the impact this would have had on the community, as they have relied on the organization's assistance for over a decade to get to polling sites.
Lang also expressed her disapproval of Iverson's defense that the text messages were meant as jokes. She questioned why someone would joke about a painful part of history for communities of color and called his excuse a poor attempt to backtrack. She also noted that in the current political climate, where issues of race and voter suppression are at the forefront, it was unacceptable for Iverson to make light of such a serious matter.
The controversy surrounding Iverson's involvement in voter suppression tactics is not a new issue. In fact, it is part of a long-standing problem in American history. As some have pointed out, the recent insurrection at the Capitol was a return to the violent voter suppression tactics of the Jim Crow era. It is a reminder that the fight for equal voting rights is ongoing and that we must remain vigilant in protecting this fundamental democratic right.
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