CNN Newsroom host Jim Sciutto is not one to miss an opportunity to engage in conspiracy mongering about voter suppression. On Wednesday's show, Sciutto was so invested in the voter suppression narrative in the aftermath of the Georgia Primary that he ignored not one, but two of CNN's own reporters telling him that the pandemic, not voter suppression, was a more innocent explanation of long lines.
Reporting from Atlanta, Dianne Gallagher told Sciutto and fellow host Poppy Harlow that many veteran poll workers were absent because they are disproportionately elderly and thus at risk to catching the virus, "I mean, look, this is the second time that primary had been postponed due to the pandemic and anything that could have gone wrong at least here in Fulton County did. We were talking about the shortage of poll workers and part of that was because so many of the people who work the polls in this country are older Americans, they're vulnerable to COVID-19.
Gallagher also explained that this means the poll workers were inexperienced which added to the "brand new system," consolidated polling places, and social distancing measures led the secretary of state to warn that there would be long wait times.
Less than five minutes later, however, Sciutto was again pursuing the racism angle with Abby Phillip, "let's be frank. Consolidation of polling places has been used to deliberately limit voter access. We shouldn’t mince words here."
Phillip did not deny the historic nature of Sciutto's assertion, but again referenced the pandemic:
But one of the things that's happening with the coronavirus is that in Georgia, in Fulton County we were told that some of the polling locations, maybe they were schools or churches, those facilities actually did not want to host polling sites base they feared contaminating their facilities with the coronavirus and then on top of that, if they had polling workers who pulled out at the last minute because they got sick or elderly or afraid of getting sick with the coronavirus, that exasperated an already existing problem.
Stubbornly, Sciutto told viewers, "folks we have to keep an eye on this as November approaches."
But, Sciutto was not done ignoring his own colleague's reporting. In an interview with Martin Luther King III, Sciutto wondered if King saw something sinister in Georgia:
You saw just the horrendous voting lines in Georgia yesterday. There had been issues there about reducing the number of polling places and whether that disproportionately affects black neighborhoods and you have other states around the country pursuing voter ID laws which also disproportionately affects African-American voters. Are you concerned that today, in the year 2020, there are efforts in this country to suppress the votes of black Americans?
Maybe if Sciutto had watched his own network, he would be aware that in Georgia, polling place decisions are done at the county level, which in this instance is run by Democrats.
Here is a transcript of the June 10 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
9:17 AM ET
DIANNE GALLAGHER: Yeah, Jim, I mean, look, this is the second time that primary had been postponed due to the pandemic and anything that could have gone wrong at least here in Fulton County did. We were talking about the shortage of poll workers and part of that was because so many of the people who work the polls in this country are older Americans, they're vulnerable to COVID-19. So in some counties, like Fulton and nearby DeKalb county they were still recruiting people the day before hand. Some inexperienced poll workers who were trying to operate a brand-new system that requires a lot of poll worker participation. So when you add in that inexperience complete with the social distancing measures which reduce the number of machines and made people stand further apart, it also consolidated the number of poll that's been a problem in Georgia for a while. Reducing those number of polling places that people have to go to. That always extends the line. Now, the secretary of state warned because of the pandemic protocols that people would have to wait in line, that the wait times would likely be very long. But Jim, we talked to people who waited five, six hours yesterday to vote in a primary election. Now, Georgia did do robust vote by mail program beforehand. They sent out absentee request forms to everybody, but a lot of people in this particular county never got the absentee ballots they requested. So they weren't planning on vote agent the primary but they H to show up anyway and we saw people waiting hours just to exercise their right.
…
9:21
JIM SCIUTTO: Abby Phillip, let's be frank. Consolidation of polling places has been used to deliberately limit voter access. We shouldn’t mince words here.
ABBY PHILLIP: Yeah
SCIUTTO: Is there evidence, in the state of Georgia, that was deliberate?
PHILLIP: You know, we are still looking into that, but Jim, you're absolutely right. That there have been historically efforts to consolidate polling places. But one of the things that's happening with the coronavirus is that in Georgia, in Fulton County we were told that some of the polling locations, maybe they were schools or churches, those facilities actually did not want to host polling sites base they feared contaminating their facilities with the coronavirus and then on top of that, if they had polling workers who pulled out at the last minute because they got sick or elderly or afraid of getting sick with the coronavirus, that exasperated an already existing problem. So one of the things that lot of activists are looking out for are attempts by election officials to do those kinds of consolidation because they know that it has a disproportionate effect on minority communities.
SCIUTTO: No question. Hey, listen, it's not just a question in Georgia and other states where there are voter I.D. laws, et cetera, and folks we have to keep an eye on this as November approaches. Abby Phillip, thanks very much.…
9:32
SCIUTTO: I want to ask you about voting. You saw just the horrendous voting lines in Georgia yesterday. There had been issues there about reducing the number of polling places and whether that disproportionately affects black neighborhoods and you have other states around the country pursuing voter ID laws which also disproportionately affects African-American voters. Are you concerned that today, in the year 2020, there are efforts in this country to suppress the votes of black Americans?
