How COVID-19 Changed Voting Practices and The GOP’s Fight to Undo It.

How COVID-19 Changed Voting Practices—Was there a Democratic Plot to win the 2020 US Elections And is the GOP Justified in Pressing to limit Mail, Early In-person and Election Day voting?

By Rev. Renaldo McKenzie, Author of Neoliberalism, Globalization Income Inequality Poverty And Resistance.

This Article is discussed on The Neoliberal Round Podcast on Achor.fm and can be accessed for free!

Since the 2020 US Elections, there has been approximately 250 – 425 new laws proposed by the GOP in 43 – 49 states to limit mail, early in-person and Election Day voting, after the unsuccessful attempts by Donald Trump and various other Republican officials to overturn it on allegations of voter irregularities which they could not prove.

However, sometime after the elections, in November 2020, I made an anecdotal discovery about how some people voted and wondered if that justified the need for some Republicans who are seeking through the Supreme Court to strengthen election laws surrounding voter identification that some Democrats and Activists call voter suppression. So, I decided to do some digging and made an interesting discovery, that I had initially published as a Conspiracy Theory in an article in The Neoliberal Commentary. But, if-truth-be-told, it was never a conspiracy theory but based in unverified facts lacking academic research and rigor as it was from a few sources. So, I decided to conduct a deeper study through ethnographic, mixed with some journalism investigation methods. The Neoliberal Corporation (and as part of my research at Georgetown) embarked on a study to explore this conjecture or hypothesis couched in the aforementioned article, that I will outlay later in this commentary.

According to Amy Gardner, Kate Rabinowitz and Harry Stevens in a story published in the Washington Post, “The GOP’s national push to enact hundreds of new election restrictions could strain every available method of voting for tens of millions of Americans, potentially amounting to the most sweeping contraction of ballot access in the United States since the end of Reconstruction, when Southern states curtailed the voting rights of formerly enslaved Black men, a Washington Post analysis has found.” Voting laws proposed by Republicans in 43 states would limit voter access – Washington Post

It was six months after the 2020 US elections and a group of us, at The Neoliberal, conducting anthropological and investigative research for a story we are working, was in-between New York, Philadelphia and D.C. neighborhoods living in and going to street corners, community centers and homes to have conversations with some of the men we had formed (anthropological) friendships and relationships with, as we get to understand their voting behaviors and patterns and political interests, given the new inability to scrutinize voting with COVID-19 fears and this practice of social distancing. It was not the traditional way Americans voted which was at the public polling centers. In 2020, most of the voting took place within the homes and ballots were mailed-in boxes.

We rapped with the guys on the corners within these locals-Asbury Park NJ, Philadelphia (North, South, Northeast and west), D.C (Prince George) and NYC (Harlem, Bronx and Brooklyn) days and evenings, in hoodies and “skullies” as if we were one with “them” on the corners, and we found out quickly what we could use to connect with the people in our study, what some people use to call hippies in the 1960s, which provided an opening for conversations and certain deeper level revelations about voting. And we should point out here what is different between those of our study and the hippies of the 1960s, is that today the “hippy” culture is popular—their behavior, style and culture are no longer operating on the fringes or reserved for a small group with a name such as hippy.

Neoliberalism Audio Book in Audible

But, here we were, academics and young scholars in these communities getting to know the guys and creating conversations about their voting behavior which they would inadvertently and comfortably share from our common talk and questions, that I would seep into the conversations, without even asking direct questions about what way they voted and how they voted. But, as I connected and interacted with several black and brown men in these communities of Asbury Park, Philadelphia, New York and DC, and the research interviews we conducted with other demographics, so as to compare behaviors to formulate conclusions about our findings, we begin to realize a pattern. In fact, one exchange was quite telling when a young gentleman I call Leek stated rather jokingly that “I did and didn’t vote in the last elections,” as we were playing dice with his other “homies.” I asked “what you mean by that bro?“ (I used “bro” at the end as a way to reinforce my connection with the subject, so as to retrieve an intimate and real answer and as a way to suggest that he can tell me the truth I’m your bro—a method of doing ethnography/anthropology where you neutralize resistance to subjects participating in a study by formulating or appealing to connections that you have developed and using connecting and intimate words such as “cuz” “bro” “slime” at the end based on your research subjects and the demographics and behaviors within the particular study group or community.) He responded. “Well, you know, my mom voted for me, ’cause I couldn’t care for this sh*t, but she does and you know that’s her sh*t, so, I just let her rack out with it.” And as we interviewed several other people in communities we were noting and documenting this same pattern and reaction among mostly black and brown men in these communities. When we delve deeper into this, we realized a pattern, that these individuals came from single parent homes headed by a strong grandmother or mother, or in some situations girlfriends or baby mothers do the voting for their male counterparts who are usually a-political or turned off by politics and police, but whose girlfriends are political and follow their family tradition and influenced by the “me too” movement.

In fact, we interviewed some women who confessed that they were so upset with Donald trump and influenced by the me-too movement and Black Lives Matter that they either coerce and went as far as to voting for their boyfriends or 18-year-old teenage sons during the last election so that the Democrats could win. We did not find any participants who voted Republican who were led to go as far as voting for their loved ones protected by the privacy of the home and only had to drop the ballot in the box after the voting was done and the envelope is closed within the home. For these mothers or women, the ends justified the means.

Indeed, the information gathered from our research suggests males in this demographic are not inclined to vote, unless they are college educated, religious, somewhat well-off or economically stable. The others don’t really vote. But what was alarming was that those who usually don’t vote, voted as there was an increase in voting among this group yet many don’t usually vote. When asked, they responded that their women or “mamma” voted for them.

You see, the home is private and prevents certain security and this is what the GOP is trying to protect against.

The issue is that “Absentee Ballots” and or “Mail-in Ballots” or “Drop-Boxes” create problems for Democracy. That’s what the Supreme Court is grappling with today as Republicans push massive voter suppression laws across the US, admitting that they can’t win without making it harder for Black and Brown Democrat-leaning people to vote. And guess what? They may be Right! Let’s not pretend that Mail-in voting didn’t create a unique situation in especially Black households where Black-men and many young people do not vote. But they live in households that do. The “Mammas” organize and lead the family votes in the home. In 2016 Mrs. Hilary Clinton didn’t have the privilege of Mail-in ballots that would ensure that enough Black vote turned out on Election Day for her and the Democrats. That’s the problem; Black and Brown Democrat-leaning people don’t usually get involved in the politics of voting. They are suspicious of political leaders and the system that have largely disenfranchised them. The conclusion for them is that nothing really changes in the society, irrespective of who is in charge, does nothing to ultimately change their plight. The GOP made sure that this pessimism was cemented and fermented in the minds of Black and Brown voters, especially during the Obama presidency. Even after Mr. Obama fought to pass the Affordable-Care-Act and cut taxes for the poor mainly Black and Brown people and the working class during the economic recession which began in 2008, despair and doubt about elections and Mr. Obama remained. Black and Brown people became even more withdrawn from elections, and the massive democratic campaigns to get them to exercise their voting rights, which was only obtained since 1964, seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

Obamacare became law and the Black working class saw their taxes cut much to the chagrin of the GOP who had failed to defeat Obamacare and pass a major healthcare bill themselves. A feat that they wanted to achieve, and not a Black Obama, for that would surely win over their base and others while sewing and inculcating a false perception that leads to an attitude of indifference in Black people’s minds about elections. The conservative plot was to obstruct President Obama so that he gets nothing done. In effect, this would have and did create the perception that nothing changes even under a change of party of having a Black President. So that by the 2012 and 2016 US elections fewer Black people turned out for Democrats to vote compared to 2008. There was simply no taste for politics in the minds of Black and Brown people anymore and this was a winning moment for the GOP.

Therefore, as we moved closer to the 2020 elections, the Democrats did their homework to understand how and why (Black and Brown) people vote or do not vote, especially within Black and Brown neighborhoods. They probably found that the negative perception of change and politics within the Black, Brown and young community, and the BLM protests, provided a challenge but also an opportunity for Democrats. The question then became, how do we (Democrats) win an election where our (Black and Brown) voters are disillusioned and have become indifferent. Further, talking negatively about Mr. Trump as a strategy to get people to vote Democrat and against Mr. Trump didn’t provide any lucrative solution for Dems who were outmatched by Trump’s supporters. The fact is that Mr. Trump had a solid base comprised mainly of White and conservative supporters that was “unmoving” and would guarantee his victory.

Moreover, overturning an enthusiastic Trump’s base whose turn out for elections seemed insurmountable would have proved a daunting and loosing task given the disillusionment of their Black and Brown voters. Further the economy was doing relatively well, under Trump pre-Covid-19, and even Black people were intrigued by Trump who was willing to invest in Americans and provided some red meat programs for Blacks and a stimulus package; that Black and Brown people took advantage of and got more than they bargained for. Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris for many Dems didn’t provide any hope either. Mr. Biden was seen as a bit decrepit, and Ms. Harris according to some couldn’t even launch a successful presidential primary campaign as she abruptly ended her primary campaign and was accused by some campaign staff as being too strict. The opposition argued that Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris never had a strong record of supporting Black and Brown people as Mr. Biden was classified as racially indifferent to Black people and Ms. Kamala’s record as a former Prosecutor highlighted her harsh stance against Black people given the heavy penalties on small Black crimes.

As a result, the COVID-19 Pandemic, that caused cities to lock down and created a life of “social distance”, provided the answer which allowed Democrats to explore how they could utilize this opportunity to get the votes they needed to overturn the enthusiasm and strong Trump base. The tectonic changes that led to remote working and living meant that voting could be done remotely as well, and Democrats may have ceased the chance to turn that to their advantage. Since Black men and young people don’t vote as much, but their Mammas do, who were influenced by the “Me too” movement and was already against Mr. Trump who they saw as misogynistic, getting them to vote was easy. In addition, A Black woman member on the ticket whom Black women could identify with provided an indispensable factor in their plot. The Black woman heads the home and changing the venue and technique of voting would facilitate a unique situation. Target Black and Brown households but mainly the Mammas and promote Mail-in or Absentee voting so that the Mammas would lead the voting. The conspiracy here is that idea that the Mammas would ensure that their sons and partners and adult young vote. Whatever this looks like, we do not know, but we have heard of situations in the Hood, in the privacy of Hood-talk and or Black-talk where some young men alluded that they voted for the first time but didn’t really see the paper as their Mammas worked on the Ballot paper for them. This is an allegation which cannot be proven as within the community you don’t snitch, and the home is largely private and what goes on in the privacy of the home is between the households.

The GOP and Mr. Trump may have unearthed this but proving it is difficult. The Democrats were able to get out the vote through a system which left more questions than answers and provide for irregularities and fraud which is difficult to prove, because which household or family will “out” their Mamma whom they cherish as the “head-cook and bottle washer” (Breadwinner).

So today, the GOP are seeking to minimize the possibility of the Mammas or “OG” (Ole Head in African American Hood Culture) or family members voting for their loved ones in the households. Indeed, it is difficult to safeguard against fraud with Absentee without proper checks and balances. However, there has always been Absentee ballots where citizens and military workers overseas are able to Mail-in their votes. But Absentee voting was never an issue as the numbers of Mail-in votes coming from overseas were not significant enough to overturn an election result unless the election was very and minutely, close. But the 2020 US elections proved that Absentee ballots without proper identification and safety against irregularities may provide an opportunity for fraud.

We could provide this bold commentary based on the conversations we had in communities which led to a discovery, a pattern that we noticed, that still requires further study. But to say that it was a Democratic plot is unfounded and spurious. Nevertheless, we noted that several men didn’t vote from certain households. Yet they voted. We explore how this was possible that many didn’t vote yet voted. Was it because for the first-time people could vote in the privacy of their home due to COVID? Households that usually vote and those that didn’t could now vote from home. However, the voting pattern suggested that African Americans voted in the last elections more than they’ve ever voted in any year. Yet many exit polls could not accurately capture this because of the untraditional ways of voting—mail-in voting. Further our research suggested that persons in these homes voted which caused a statistical imbalance or ambivalence and confusion because it betrayed behavior. Poll predictions were off, and pollsters continue to misrepresent voting patterns and attitudes. But this was due to how people voted and who voted.

So we went into the communities, especially African Americans to do more study but to dig deeper using anthropological methods, living among the voting population and conducting interviews and observations over 13 months while being part of the community. I moved from NYC to Philly and conducted research in Pennsylvania and particularly Philadelphia among 18-44 non college educated, and college educated black families and individuals. This article is available via our podcast and is part of a research study being conducted by The Neoliberal Corporation and Rev. Renaldo McKenzie, towards a final project on “Privilege, Power, Position, Status and Secrets to Unlocking Divine Intervention, which I have said is no secret and requires no particular allegiance, only belief in action that is activated in so far as you believe. Further on the issue of power, the study examines the strategies of power to establish, extend or maintain it hegemony or position and the problem this poses for society.