Correlation is not causation, and whether or not turnout increased doesn't change the fact that turnout only increased for 2020 because of ease of ballot access.
What factors are you correlating? We've been told for years that voter ID suppress voting. Those have existed for several elections so obviously they did not suppress the vote.
Since correlation is not causation, it is unlikely that voter access is solely responsible for the high turnout in 2018 and 2020. There are other factors affecting turnout.
--For example, in several states there was very little increase in mail-in voting yet voter turnout also increased in those states.
--Blacks were less likely than other groups to use mail-in ballots but their turnout also increased.
--States with universal main-in ballots also increased their voter turnout
--states which did not change their laws regarding mail-in ballots still had increased mail-in voting and increased turnout
--there was an increased turnout of Trump voters although 2/3 voted in person on election day
Right, but these new voter suppression laws weren't on the books in 2018 OR 2020.
But voter ID and other laws were already on the books which many have been claiming suppress votes. You are talking about measures which are not yet in effect.
So you admit that barriers were placed. Why were they placed?
I said more people chose to vote "despite any barriers." Some things I don't see as barriers. For example, reducing poll opening times from 7:00 until 8:00 during a 3 week early voting periods is not a barrier although it reduces voting times. It obviously did not suppress voting.
They were probably placed because of those who feared voter fraud. In a few cases the number of of voting precincts was reduced because they had so few voters and a shortage of poll workers. In some cases they eliminated individual precincts for county-wide voting to eliminate the problems for those moving from one precinct to another.
Only because in 2020, ballot access was improved mainly due to mail-in voting, which most of these suppression laws will reduce or make more difficult.
Not for those who want to vote. That suppression claim was heard about voter ID and still not one voter has been identified who could not get an ID to vote (that I have found).
No one should have to vote IN SPITE OF SOMETHING. If you're putting up barriers to voting, regardless of whether or not those barriers are overcome, you're still putting up barriers to voting with no justification.
The biggest barrier to voting is registration. Should we also eliminate that?
People have to be motivated to vote no matter how easy it is. I think the intense feelings for or against Trump had much more to do with 20 million new voters than ballot access. Voting by mail still involves many steps in most states and people have to really want to vote to complete that process.
