Philly voting wonks bent NYT’s ear on the math of disenfranchisement

There’s a reason why President Barack Obama received 100 percent of votes in 59 Philadelphia precincts in 2012.

Despite what presidential candidate Donald Trump might say, it has a lot less to do with rigging voting machines and a whole lot more to do with segregation and disenfranchisement.

“Large-scale voter fraud” will happen in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago, Trump warned earlier this month. As statistically improbable as it might seem for Democrats to sweep 100 percent of the vote in 59 voting districts, Chestnut Hill College professor and Social Enterprise Alliance Philadelphia advocate Jeffrey Carroll told the New York Times that it’s “definitely more about math than fraud.”

Gerrymandering has segregated and concentrated the Black vote. Trump’s accusations that Black voters are responsible for rigging voting patterns is adding insult to injury. Temple University political science professor Nyron Crawford warned of the dangers of undermining voting institutions.

“You have to pair that with the history of disenfranchisement among minority voters,” Crawford told NYT.