This meme is neither “breaking” nor a credible example of voter suppression or systemic racism, despite many activists around the country from LeBron James to Hillary Clinton highlighting it.

-The Kentucky primary was supposed to be in May, so it’s already been delayed due to the pandemic. Both the Democratic governor Andy Beshear and Republican Sec of State Michael Adams have worked together to allow it to happen with some significant changes.

-For a variety of reasons, it wasn’t possible or desirable to have all the normal polling sites open due to COVID-19. Many locations were small and cramped, and elections are primarily manned by volunteers, most of whom are over age 60 in KY and at high risk for the virus. KY wanted to avoid what they felt were debacles in WI and OH.

-So the locations were severely limited, essentially down to one per county. In some of the larger counties, the polling sites are large convention centers or football fields. But while the locations were limited other options were expanded.

-All registered voters in Kentucky could request an absentee ballot through an online portal without a notarized signature, a major shift. In addition, in-person voting was expanded for an entire week, since June 15.

-So far, Kentucky is on pace for a record primary turnout. As of Monday, 973,807 Kentuckians had either requested an absentee ballot or voted in person. This doesn’t even include any turnout from today. 503,400 ballots had already been received in the mail, and election officials estimate 90% of absentee ballots issued will be sent in. For reference, the highest primary turnout ever was 922,456 in 2008.

-As Adams said, “If the governor and I are both suppressors, we're doing a terrible job because we've got the highest turnout we've ever seen.” He also had harsh words for outside activists, “I am worried that know-nothing, angry people from New York and California will call us and they'll block out people from rural and urban Kentucky who are trying to find out where to go vote. That is voter suppression."

-The governor also had strong words. “We've had mail-in voting for the first time in our history. I think that's the opposite of voter suppression. We've had no-excuse early voting for the first time in our history. I think that's the opposite of voter suppression. We've had 170,000 people have their voting rights restored, which is I think the opposite of voter suppression. Now, that doesn't fit in Twitter very easily."

-Louisville NAACP President Raoul Cunningham, a longtime civil rights activist in the state and who also sits on NAACP’s national board, said "I was concerned if the African American vote would be suppressed, but I really don't think it will be.”

-The meme shows Mitch McConnell grinning at the bottom, but he’s likely indifferent to this. He’s not facing any serious challenge in his primary. The contentious race is on the Democrat side, with Amy McGrath and Charles Booker squaring off. Any supposed voter suppression wouldn’t be helping Republicans beat Democrats, but Democrat against Democrat.

-To believe this is an example of systemic racism, one must ignore that this election was thrown into turmoil by COVID-19, and make the (frankly racist) case that black people are less capable of requesting and filling out absentee ballots or finding their way to a polling place during an entire week. But this doesn’t appear to be the case at all as it looks to be a record turnout for both the state and for the spotlighted urban Jefferson County in Louisville.

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/elections/kentucky/2020/05/19/louisville-primary-2020-jefferson-county-officials-defend-1-poll-site/5220141002/
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2020/04/24/coronavirus-kentucky-mail-voting-allowed-2020-primaries/3019216001/
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/22/kentucky-officials-refute-primary-voter-suppression-claims/3235183001/