Is it as easy to vote as it could be? No. Then that problem does exist. Whether the outcome would differ doesn't change that voting could still be made easier.
Because it prevents people from voting. Voting, as we do it, takes effort. Not a lot of effort, but more effort than it could take. And that prevents people from voting, and as a result, is suppression.
Suppress - forcibly put an end to. Similar: subdue, defeat, conquer, vanquish, triumph over, repress, crush, quell, quash, squash, stamp out, overpower, extinguish, put down, put out, crack down on, clamp down on, drive underground, end, put an end to, stop, discontinue, terminate, halt Where is "to not make it as easy as it could be" in the definition. Again your mental gymnastics to try and paint the left as good and right as bad. You appear to have become for the left what you hate about many on the right.
The ole, "only use the first definition and ignore all the others, some of which fit the context better anyway" gag. Like the whoopie cushion, it makes you laugh but it is still a cheap one. The latin root means "to press down." The root itself suggests "to not make it as easy as it could be." How does a cough suppressant work? Does it "subdue, defeat, conquer, vanquish, triumph over, repress, crush, quell, quash, squash, stamp out, overpower, extinguish, put down, put out, crack down on, clamp down on, drive underground, end, put an end to, stop, discontinue, terminate, halt" etc, a cough? Or does it inhibit one? Does it restrain one? If you and I were fighting our way through a horde of enemies, and were going to lay down suppressive fire, would that fire's purpose be to "subdue, defeat, conquer, vanquish, triumph over, repress, crush, quell, quash, squash, stamp out, overpower, extinguish, put down, put out, crack down on, clamp down on, drive underground, end, put an end to, stop, discontinue, terminate, halt" etc, the enemy? Or to inhibit their movement and response? To keep them down in their positions? Doe a suppressor on a firearm "subdue, defeat, conquer, vanquish, triumph over, repress, crush, quell, quash, squash, stamp out, overpower, extinguish, put down, put out, crack down on, clamp down on, drive underground, end, put an end to, stop, discontinue, terminate, halt" etc, the sound waves from the firearm's discharge? Or does it muffle it? Stifle it? Inhibit it? It's definition 5 in Mirriam Webster's. That's where it is. That's what closing polling places and having differing levels of ease of access in different communities is doing: suppressing the vote.
And despite all those polling places being closed and having different levels of access in different communities, Biden won in a traditional Red State and Democratic Senator Candidates took the Republican incumbents to a runoff. It must get tiring wearing the Yoke of victimization 24x7.
What if I told you that a lot of traditional red states are actually traditional voter suppression states, with histories of it going back since the founding of the nation? How many black slaves got to vote in Georgia in the late 18th century? None. But their population was weighted towards the state's representation. How many black voters got to vote in the Jim Crow era? And how is the voting accessiblity looking these days? Traditional voter suppression state. Same with Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas... You know, the confederacy. Past is prologue. I wouldn't know what wearing a yoke feels like, but millions of people who lived and died in Georgia did. Their descendants are still being victimized, you should ask them about how it feels. EDIT: changed "ancestors" to "descendants."
I dont want to get in a big argument over this but seeing what ive seen in the inner city over 20 years involving political races, lets just say no busses came to our street with free meals or coupons for Jack Pirtle chicken to take my grandparents and non driving mother to the polls.
Georgia, notably, had large amounts of voter suppression in 2018, which lead to a surge in black voters in 2020. The election was run by the Republican candidate, 300,000 voters, mostly black, were wrongly flagged as ineligible and limited numbers of voting booths in high Democrat areas, creating long lines. Florida, in this election, had a voter passed law allowing former felons to vote, affecting about 1.7 million people, I think. The Florida governor, worried these are a huge batch of new Democrat votes, amends the law to require these folks to pay court fees and other costs before they can be eligible and does so in a way which makes the amount one owes often difficult to know. As a result, only about 20% or so of those eligible under the new law can vote. Voter IDs are also an attempt to lower black voters, sometimes accompanied by closing DMVs in certain areas. There are a ton of examples, but voter suppression is very real.
How is making everyone able to vote easier a left vs right thing? Unless you are saying that the right doesn't want to make it easier for people to vote? We consciously exclude easier methods by not using modern technology. As noted by [2] that is suppression. And it is not a right or a left thing.
My comment which you took exception to and suppressed me was a left excuse making verses a right excuse making thing.
To which I responded, if we make voting easier, we'll remove one of those. Because if voting is simple, there can't be a suppression excuse. This has nothing to do with left or right. But yet, you said: "Again your mental gymnastics to try and paint the left as good and right as bad. You appear to have become for the left what you hate about many on the right." Which wouldn't apply, unless you think the right is trying to make it hard to vote. So, are they?
By your definition of suppression "Is it as easy to vote as it could be? No. Then that problem does exist." There will always be a way it could be made easier, thus per your definition voter suppression will always exist.
Still not a left or right thing. If voting is always made to be as easy as it can be, then voting will always be as easy as it can be. And then there will be no suppression. There are no mental gymnastics. These are not hard thoughts. They are simple.
I don't know why we cant just be in a perpetual process of making voting/elections both more secure and easier for everyone to participate in. There will absolutely always be something we can do better on both fronts.