Awkward! Vox (yes, Vox!) undercuts one of Obama's favorite arguments

i can't even with this racist junk from conservative shills. https://t.co/SCUXkWXvr7

— The Nats Won The World Series (@EsotericCD) November 2, 2016

Well, this is interesting:

https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/793931172757864448

Huh.

https://twitter.com/SethAMandel/status/793941770203701249

But … but …

What???!! Obama was just talking about voter suppression today! ? https://t.co/Am83TVVmRE

— Kathleen McKinley (@KatMcKinley) November 2, 2016

Indeed he was:

.@POTUS: Not voting accomplishes work "of those who would suppress your vote without them having to lift a finger" https://t.co/qNxGVmuWJd

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) November 2, 2016

Obama goes after Republicans for trying to suppress the vote, especially among African Americans, in North Carolina.

— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) November 2, 2016

Obama now imploring people to cast their ballots in NC: "Each of you could swing an entire precinct if you vote."

— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) November 2, 2016

"It was not that long ago that folks had to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar in order to vote," Obama says.

— Sabrina Siddiqui (@SabrinaSiddiqui) November 2, 2016

We don’t remember when that was a thing that folks had to do, but that’s not important right now. No, what’s important is that Vox just made President Obama look like someone who’s got no idea what he’s talking about.

There is little doubt at this point that voter ID laws are discriminatory. Many Republicans, who have pushed these laws in recent years, have admitted as much. Studies show the laws have a disproportionate impact on black and brown voters. And there is a very long history of voter suppression against black voters in the US. All of this adds up to what’s fairly described as a constitutional crisis depriving people of their most fundamental democratic right.

But there’s some good news: Despite Republican legislators’ best attempts to suppress minority voters, study after study has found that voter ID laws have little to no effect on voter turnout. At worst, the effect is small — barely detectable even in studies that employ multiple controls. At best, there’s no effect at all or even an increase.

That doesn’t, of course, mean that the laws are okay. The intent behind the laws is still clearly abhorrent — with some Republicans admitting that they are meant to suppress minority voters. The good news is that so far the intent, no matter how bad, hasn’t led to the effect Republican lawmakers apparently desire.

So if you decide to punish Vox for insubordination, Mr. President, don’t be too severe with them. We’re sure they’ll do better next time. Though we can’t promise they’ll get any smarter about this stuff:

Wait
The WHOLE argument that these laws are racist is that they disproportionately impact minority voting pic.twitter.com/UAU7AkKOob

— PoliMath (@politicalmath) November 2, 2016

https://twitter.com/davidharsanyi/status/793949882625196032

Editor’s note: This post has been updated with additional text and tweets.