MSNBC correspondent Sam Brock admitted on Thursday's Hallie Jackson Reports that critics of Florida's new election law do not know how it will suppress the vote, but are certain it will.
After criticizing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for excluding non-Fox media in the signing ceremony, Brock added "I spoke with a voting law expert who said it's like 1,000 paper cuts. It's not clear what any one of the components of S.B. 90 will actually do in terms of suppressing the vote. When you add them all up together, it could make for a lot of bleeding when it comes to voter access, Hallie."
The anonymous "voting law expert" in question no doubt had to really stretch the definition of voter suppression for that assessment as Brock unwittingly confirmed after Jackson asked him to, "tell us more about what some of the opponents of this bill, now law, are saying about it and trying to do about it, specifically, besides just filing lawsuits. Is that what they believe is their best chance at trying to undo what Florida has put in place is lawsuits?"
Brock tortured the definitions of voter suppression and racism to claim that "I didn't mention, you can only bring two mail-in ballots per person now. So, in larger households that are diverse, potentially of color, with less economic means will they get their ballots to the box in time or will they be able do it at all? Those are concerns voiced right now." This seems like more imagining than reporting.
Are there no large white households in Florida? What does race have to do with any of that? If anyone was being racist, it appeared to be Brock who seemed to imply minorities would be challenged to competently navigate drop box rules.
Jackson then tossed the segment over to correspondent Jane Timm in Texas for more dire warnings about Republican voter bills. "Tell us more about that and what we’re about to see."
Before bringing on a Democratic State Rep. Jessica Gonzalez to decry the bill, Timm summarized it as:
The bill makes it harder -- it adds a bunch of criminal penalties to various parts of the election process, making it harder for things like election officials to talk to voters about absentee ballots and empowering partisan poll watchers and adding protections for them. Numerous criminal penalties with felony penalties for various parts of the election process. People say this is a chilling effect. It actually adds rules as to how people can help other voters.
Rather than having a chilling effect, both the Florida and Texas laws will likely have no effect on voter turnout as even the New York Times recognized during the blowup over Georgia's new law.
This segment was sponsored by HughesNet.
Here is a transcript for the May 6 show:
MSNBC
Hallie Jackson Reports
10:03 AM ET
SAM BROCK: Hallie, One thing I would add, I spoke with a voting law expert who said it's like 1,000 paper cuts. It's not clear what any one of the components of S.B. 90 will actually do in terms of suppressing the vote. When you add them all up together, it could make for a lot of bleeding when it comes to voter access, Hallie.
HALLIE JACKSON: Sam, tell us more about what some of the opponents of this bill, now law, are saying about it and trying to do about it, specifically, besides just filing lawsuits. Is that what they believe is their best chance at trying to undo what Florida has put in place is lawsuits?
BROCK: Yes. Of course, there's the question of severability, can parts of the law be struck down while others are maintained in place. Democracy Docket is made up of voting rights activists, League of Women's Voters, some other groups in there challenging this court immediately after it took effect. Their argument is this affects First Amendment rights: free speech, 14th Amendment: equal protection under the law, what communities are impacted by not being able to potentially mail in their ballots or another component that I didn't mention, you can only bring two mail-in ballots per person now. So, in larger households that are diverse, potentially of color, with less economic means will they get their ballots to the box in time or will they be able do it at all? Those are concerns voiced right now. The proponents of the lawsuits feel they have a strong argument to be made.
JACKSON: Then you have what's happening in Austin where you are, Jane. We know protesters have been getting together the. In about 25 minutes, there's this show of opposition against what they see as a restrictive voting bill in Texas. Tell us more about that and what we’re about to see.
JANE TIMM: Advocates and Democrats, Hallie, are trying to make this as painful as possible for the Republicans to pass this bill, H.B. 6. They know they don't have the votes to stop the law, but they want to highlight various issues about it. So now, the bill makes it harder -- it adds a bunch of criminal penalties to various parts of the election process, making it harder for things like election officials to talk to voters about absentee ballots and empowering partisan poll watchers and adding protections for them. Numerous criminal penalties with felony penalties for various parts of the election process. People say this is a chilling effect. It actually adds rules as to how people can help other voters.
