Barack Obama says GOP is ‘systematically preventing’ citizens from voting

Former President Barack Obama campaigned on behalf of former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, where he accused Republicans of “trying to systematically prevent ordinary citizens from making their voices heard.”

“All across the country, Democrats are trying to make it easier to vote, not make it harder to vote, and push back on Republicans who are trying to systematically prevent ordinary citizens from making their voices heard,” Obama told a crowd of about 2,000 gathered outside of the University. “You have to ask yourself, why is it Republicans don’t want you to vote?” he asked [Newsweek].

“We’re at a turning point right now, both here in America and around the world,” Obama said. “Because there’s a mood out there. There’s a politics of meanness and division and conflict, of tribalism and cynicism. That’s one path. But the good news is there’s another path where we pull together and we solve big problems.” He added that McAuliffe, who served as Virginia’s governor from 2014 to 2018, would “show the country and the world that we’re not going to indulge in our worst instincts.”

McAuliffe and Republican candidate Glenn Youngkin are in a dead-even fight for the governorship, just more than a week before Election Day. Both received 46% among likely voters, according to the latest Monmouth University survey. Younkin’s campaign fired back at Obama’s claims that Republicans work to prevent people from voting, calling them “false statements,” in a comment to Fox News on Sunday morning [FOX News].