Government Official Says Black People Lack Education And Sophistication

via Breaking Brown

An expert witness testifying on behalf of the Justice Department offered a clear reason for why North Carolina’s election laws disproportionately impact African-Americans: We’re less sophisticated.

Political scientist Charles Stewart argued in court that ending same day voter registration, among other measures, results in racial discrimination:

It’s also the case that — well, yes, so it would, empirically more likely affect African Americans. Also, understanding within political science, that people who register to vote the closer and closer one gets to Election Day tend to be less sophisticated voters, tend to be less educated voters, tend to be voters who are less attuned to public affairs. That also tells me from the literature of political science that there are likely to be people who will end up not registering and not voting. People who correspond to those factors tend to be African Americans, and, therefore, that’s another vehicle through which African Americans would be disproportionately affected by this law.