In the same Thursday edition of NBC Nightly News where White House correspondent Geoff Bennett proclaimed that President Trump was “stoking his manufactured voting fraud crisis,” correspondent Morgan Radford cried racism as the force behind why a black man in North Carolina had his mail-in ballot rejected. But she would later admit that he didn’t have a witness signature, had the opportunity to correct the mistake, and send it in again.
Radford opened her report with an interview with the man who grew up in the Jim Crow era, and voting was very important to him:
RADFORD: Christopher Gibson says he's voted in every election. But this year in North Carolina he voted by mail for the first time.
CHRISTOPHER GIBSON: Voting is very important. I grew up in the Jim Crow era.
RADFORD: You decided you were going to vote no matter what.
GIBSON: If I had to crawl. If I had to crawl, I would have gone.
“But his mail-in ballot was rejected,” she told viewers as the on-screen headline read: “Key battleground rejects high number of black mail-in votes.”
Of course, the implication was the Republican-controlled state was targeting black people for so-called “voter suppression.” But the reality was far more mundane, and Radford had no choice but to admit it. “He was missing a witness signature,” she said.
Desperately clinging to the empty charges of racism and voter suppression, she added: “In North Carolina, more than a million people have requested mail-in ballots this year, but the rate of rejection for mail-in ballots, those sent back because of inconsistencies is four times higher for black voters than white ones.”
Radford went on detail how the most common reason mail-in ballots were rejected was because “some of these mail-in ballots may be missing a signature or the signature of a witness, which is something that North Carolina requires.” She then warned that with many people voting by mail for the first time it “could lead to some mistakes.”
What does race have to do with any of that Morgan?
Thankfully, NBC’s manufactured voter suppression crisis was blown up by the cold hard facts. As Radford reluctantly admitted:
State election officials stress that the ballot review process is bipartisan. That neither the envelope or the ballot contain information about the voter's race. And voters are given a chance to correct their ballots before election day.
“Still, some voters are wary,” she added.
Despite those facts, she insisted on stoking fear of other states having ballots “rejected on mass.”
Bennett had also accused Trump of trying to “undermine the integrity of election” with his concerns about mail-in voting. Meanwhile, absentee ballots were found thrown in a ditch in Wisconsin.
This gaslighting by NBC on so-called “voter-suppression” was made possible because of lucrative sponsorships from Prevagen and Dawn. Their contact information is linked so you can tell them about the biased news they’re funding.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
NBC Nightly News
October 1, 2020
7:12:10 p.m. EasternLESTER HOLT: The pandemic has dramatically altered how we vote, with ballots mailed to every voter in nine states and absentee voting permitted for all in 34 more. In tonight’s Vote Watch, Morgan Radford on the challenges in battleground North Carolina.
[Cuts to video]
MORGAN RADFORD: Christopher Gibson says he's voted in every election. But this year in North Carolina he voted by mail for the first time.
CHRISTOPHER GIBSON: Voting is very important. I grew up in the Jim Crow era.
RADFORD: You decided you were going to vote no matter what.
GIBSON: If I had to crawl. If I had to crawl, I would have gone.
RADFORD: But his mail-in ballot was rejected. He was missing a witness signature. In North Carolina, more than a million people have requested mail-in ballots this year, but the rate of rejection for mail-in ballots, those sent back because of inconsistencies is four times higher for black voters than white ones.
GIBSON: We still seem to be fighting to vote in 2020.
RADFORD: Here are some of the issues that county officials in election offices like this one are seeing. For example, some of these mail-in ballots may be missing a signature or the signature of a witness, which is something that North Carolina requires. And for voters who are used to voting in person or early, voting for the first time on a mail-in ballot could lead to some mistakes.
State election officials stress that the ballot review process is bipartisan. That neither the envelope or the ballot contain information about the voter's race. And voters are given a chance to correct their ballots before election day. Still, some voters are wary.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I’m making sure that I did everything right according to the rules and making sure there is no excuses for my vote not being counted.
RADFORD: Should other states be concerned that ballots could be -- being rejected on mass?
[Transition]
TOMAS LOPEZ (Democracy North Carolina, executive director): There are voters all over this state and all over the country who are undergoing – who are taking part in the mail-balloting process for the very first time. We're urging people to, if you are going to vote by mail, do it early so that you are given the chance to correct it.
RADFORD: And be counted. Morgan Radford, NBC News Charlotte.
