Mississippi Elections Chief Warns Biden May Register 'Uninformed,' 'Woke' College Voters

[demmiblue]

Mississippi’s top election official says he is worried that the nation will suffer if more “woke” and “uninformed” college students become registered voters. Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson made that remark in a televised interview while describing President Joe Biden’s March 6 executive order on “promoting access to voting.”

Among other things, the president’s executive order directs the heads of federal agencies to develop strategic plans to “promote voter registration and participation,” possibly including “distributing voter registration and vote-by-mail ballot applications in the course of regular services.”

On March 26, Watson claimed during an interview with WLOX that Biden was “basically employing all the federal agencies, universities and colleges to register as many folks as they can via this automatic voter registration.” Biden’s order does not mention colleges, universities or automatic registration.

“So think about all those woke college and university students now who will automatically be registered to vote whether they wanted to or not. Again, if they didn’t know to opt-out, they’re going to be automatically registered to vote and then they receive this mail-in ballot that they probably didn’t know was coming because they didn’t know they were registered to vote,” the Mississippi Republican said.

“You’ve got an uninformed citizen who may not be prepared and ready to vote. Automatically, it’s forced on them: ‘Hey, go make a choice.’ And our country’s going to pay for those choices.”

...

In the WLOX interview, Watson made additional claims about Biden’s March 6 executive order, positing an additional scenario where he implied the president could be sneakily registering people to vote without their knowledge.

“So you think about the (Gulf) Coast, we have a hurricane, FEMA comes in, we get FEMA help. On that FEMA application now is going to be an area for voter registration, and it’s automatic voter registration unless you opt out,” Watson claimed.

The White House declined to respond to Watson’s remarks, but a copy of the executive order and a March 6 White House statement announcing the order provides no evidence for these claims. The order does not offer any specific directive for colleges, universities or FEMA. It also does not mention using unrelated forms for automatic voter registration or requiring people to “opt out” of becoming registered to vote.

https://www.mississippifreepress.org/11009/mississippi-elections-chief-warns-biden-may-register-uninformed-woke-college-voters/

[struggle4progress]

1. "We all ain't wantin no unedjumicated votaz down hyear at are poles!"

[iwillalwayswonderwhy]

14. I read that in Foghorn Leghorn's voice

I say, I say

[csziggy]

26. They've already got all the uneducated voters they want

The white supremacist voters that believe every word they say. What they are really worried about are the educated and non-white voters that will change the balance of power in the South.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

30. The GOP considers intelligence to be elitist.

[Aristus]

2. That is just so godfuckingdamned stupid, I don't even know where to begin.

[gratuitous]

8. The whole "unintended registered to vote" scenario looks like the biggest, slowest target

But yeah, this is a cavalcade of stupid.

[vlyons]

20. more like a calvacade of bigotry and racism

nt

[Claire Oh Nette]

3. uniformed woke college voters

but registering uniformed, misinformed, disinformed, delusional, reality denying, bigoted, trailer-park dwelling, high school drop outs without their knowledge is totally OK.

Registering to vote should be part of the high school government class standards every year. Only one party thinks the best way to get their ideas into policy is to restrict the number of voters, not discuss their ideas. Hmmm.

[Karadeniz]

4. If he really thought that, he has two options. Enact laws to prevent them from voting. Conduct

Discussions and education to bring them to his point of view. The first is guaranteed to work, but it's fascism. The second is iffy. What to do, what to do?

[GoodRaisin]

5. Then take down Fox News.

You can’t find more uninformed voters anywhere than their viewers.

[bullwinkle428]

6. "Uninformed & woke" is the new "uppity". The pitch of the dog whistle

may change, but it's still a dog whistle.

[OhZone]

7. "Uninformed woke" is kinda an oxymoron to me

Uninformed yet informed about injustice and racism.

[Vogon_Glory]

9. The Republican Party has been registering uninformed voters for years

If voters gave serious thought as to whether the Teapublican/Trumpie Republican Party truly repressed their interests, you could drown it in a bathtub.

[MineralMan]

10. U.S. Citizens have the right to vote. Period.

Nothing to do with being "woke" or "racist," or any other such thing.

It is a basic right in the United States.

This is bullshit and will not stand.

[bdamomma]

23. I may be naive

or something, but explain to me "woke" and "cancel culture" terminology. oops never mind my question just reading the other posts.

MineralMan.

[MineralMan]

24. Both things are difficult to explain, and mean different things

to different people.

I interpret "woke" to mean that someone recognizes his or her privilege and understands that others do not share that privilege. Right wingers interpret it as meaning that someone is stupid and thinks that all people should be treated equally. Right wingers don't believe that, so it is an insult they use to describe people who are trying to rid themselves of prejudiced thinking.

"Cancel Culture" is something else. I don't believe it exists. Right wingers believe that their prejudices are being "cancelled" by the liberals in society. If a bakery, for example, gets boycotted for refusing to cater to same-sex weddings, right-wingers think that the "cancel culture" is destroying that bakery unfairly. For the right, only their prejudices are subject to being cancelled.

That's my take on those terms. Others will have other takes.

[bdamomma]

31. Thanks

MineralMan, I think I get it now thanks again.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

12. The GOP is the party of voter suppression

The GOP wants to suppress the vote of intelligent voters

[eShirl]

13. You mean people with the right to vote?

[apnu]

15. one cannot be both "woke" and "uninformed"

"Woke" means "to awaken to knowledge" this is directly opposed to "uninformed"

Michael Watson is a fucking moron.

[Caliman73]

18. "woke" is now another buzzword for racists...

You are absolutely correct about the real meaning of woke, its origin and usage.

To racist conservatives however, it just means uppity Black people and White race traitors. Watson may be a moron, that I don't know, but what he is actually doing is activating the truly uninformed people within his party and movement to be outraged by more people who "aren't like you" getting the chance to have a say in our government.

[apnu]

21. You are correct

Racists have a habit of taking a word or symbol and turning it into shit for they have none or their own. They can only co-opt and corrupt.

[apnu]

22. Additionally, the having to constantly reinforce the base must be exhausting.

Republicans and Conservatives spend so much time stroking and managing outrage of the base. They must be dead tired at the end of the day.

What a waste of time.

[Caliman73]

25. It is the only tool they have. That, and cheating.

Conservatives have little to nothing to offer the average person because conservatives believe in a hierarchical society where the very wealthy get all of the power, and most of the benefits of society and those below function only to serve the needs of the top. The ideology has changed very little from when it was codified in defense of Monarchy during the French Revolution. People like Edmund Burke and Joseph DeMaistre were appalled at the idea of the "common man" deposing rulers chosen by god.

I used to be more into sports than I am now and there was a favorite tactic of weaker teams or athletes called "playing the refs". Instead of focusing on winning the game by playing the sport, whether basketball, tennis, boxing, etc... they would complain to the referee and try to get the other team disqualified or penalized in some way that would give them the advantage. If it worked, the referees would start calling fouls during critical points in the game and you'd be playing against the team and the rule enforcers.

That is what conservatives do. They have no policy that actually helps anyone but the wealthiest people, so they appeal to "the rules" they try to frame the narrative and decry the system because they have nothing else.

[lagomorph777]

19. Well, there you go. Another GQP idiot humiliates himself.

[apnu]

16. Also, Republicans have moaned for decades about college voters.

They hate that large state colleges that are out in the middle of nowhere can vote. It messes with their carefully crafted outrage of country people whom they keep in the darkness of ignorance.

Ignorant people are easy to control, free thinking people, not so much.

We've heard Republicans and Conservatives complain about college kids since the 1960s.

[lagomorph777]

17. The GQP is completely reliant on uninformed voters.

It's the well-informed ones (woke college students) he needs to worry about.

[Golden Raisin]

27. Well bless his heart.

[peggysue2]

28. This is the telling, repeated line in Republican circles

“You’ve got an uninformed citizen who may not be prepared and ready to vote. Automatically, it’s forced on them: ‘Hey, go make a choice.’ And our country’s going to pay for those choices.”


Yes, and those choices by American voters is what our democratic Republic rests on.

These weasels are desperately trying to sell the idea of worthy and unworthy voters to limit the vote and control the outcome. They know as we know that when voting is made easy, more voters come out. When more voters are engaged then more Democratic candidates win.

The only difference now and past machinations is the GOP publicly announcing their intentions to limit and restrain the vote. They're trying to put a positive spin on the same old, same old unAmerican activity.

Republicans have tossed aside the idea of a democratic Republic, a system that is rejecting them. They're willing to defend (or turn a blind eye to) insurrection, breaking the rule of law and tearing down institutions to maintain a power base.

This war isn't over yet, not by a long shot. Republicans need to be defeated everywhere, vanquished, crushed completely before this is over.

[Nexus2]

29. Translation: The better the voter turnout, the less our chances to win. [nt]