CNN: “Critics often describe the wave of voter restriction laws sweeping the nation as a new version of Jim Crow, the 19th century minstrel figure whose stage name became the symbol of a brutal era of Black oppression. But if you want to understand how these new voter restriction laws also oppress White people, it’s more useful to invoke another cultural figure: Wile E. Coyote. Wile E. Coyote is the Looney Tunes cartoon character whose obsessive quest to catch the Road Runner always backfires. Though he employs an array of outlandish gadgets such as jet-powered roller skates, the coyote’s schemes to capture his prey inevitably ends up injuring him instead. This comparison is not designed to make light of voter suppression, which is an alarming attack on our democracy. It’s to make a point that doesn’t get emphasized enough as Democrats approach a crucial stretch in their efforts to pass a new voting rights bill: White people – not just people of color – have been some of the biggest victims of voter suppression tactics.”

“The Republican Party’s crusade to make voting more difficult isn’t just morally wrong. It’s folly. By obsessively chasing the phantom of widespread voter fraud, they are actually hurting their own base of White voters. So far this year, at least 18 states have passed laws that make it more difficult to vote. All but one are led by GOP-controlled legislatures. Some of the more obvious boomerang effects of these laws have already been noted. Voter restrictions anger and mobilize voters of color. They make it more difficult for older, rural White citizens to vote. And they discourage some White voters from even participating in elections. Even some GOP leaders are now warning that restrictive voting laws are hurting their base. One commentator went further, saying Republicans are ‘inadvertently suppressing their own voters.'”