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Why people on Twitter are giving black women the credit for Roy Moore's defeat

According to a Washington Post exit poll, 98% of black women voted for Doug Jones.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

on December 13, 2017

Democrat Doug Jones pulled a surprise win for the Alabama Senate seat against Trump-endorsed Republican candidate Roy Moore, who's been accused of sexual misconduct and said America was last "great" when slavery was legal.

A preliminary exit poll conducted by Edison Research for the National Election Poll, The Washington Post, and other media showed that a strong turnout among black voters played a key role in electing Jones.

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While accurate voting data isn't yet available, people on Twitter credited black women -- 98% of which voted for Jones -- for Moore's defeat:

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If confirmed, these figures are important because the state of Alabama has one of the strictest voter ID laws in any U.S. state. In 2011, Alabama passed a photo ID law which requires voters to have at least one of several specific kinds of photo ID in order to be able to cast the ballot.

While the law is manifestly about cracking down on "voter impersonation," research shows this is really rare. Some campaigners and activists such as Scott Douglas, executive director of the Greater Birmingham Ministries, claim the law "is nothing but a naked attempt to suppress the voting rights of people of color" who are less likely to have a photo ID they can use to vote.

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Many people on social media said the black women's pivotal contribution to Moore's defeat is historic, using memes and videos.

This is Yesha Callahan, deputy manager at The Root:

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And Raquel Willis, national organizer at the Transgender Law Center:

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Some people recalled the historic roots of this victory:

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Charlene Carruthers, national director at the Black Youth Project 10, and others made a point about not just thanking black women to elect a white male candidate, but also support their platforms and elect them to office: