Bernie Sanders supporter Jennifer Epps-Addison said on Wednesday that young voters were "suppressed" by long lines in many locations, despite record voter turnout in primary states.
"Young people have come out in record numbers. They came out higher than they did in 2016," said Epps-Addison, the co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy. "The difference is that they have three-to-seven-hour long waits in their polling places. So one thing that young people need to hear is that the Democratic Party actually believes they deserve the right to vote and will deal with the fact that they are being suppressed."
Epps-Addison was responding to a point raised by fellow MSNBC guest and Joe Biden supporter Michael Eric Dyson, who said younger voters did not turn out for Sen. Sanders (I., Vt.) like they did in 2016, and that has widened Biden's lead.
According to exit polls in Michigan, Mississippi, and Missouri, Dyson is correct that young voters failed to turn out in this week's primary states as much as they did in the 2016 Democratic primary. Epps-Addison also did not explain why the lines would not have similarly affected Biden voters.
Sanders was soundly defeated by Biden in three of the five primary states Tuesday night, giving the former vice president a nearly insurmountable lead in delegates. Sanders left for his home state of Vermont and refrained from speaking publicly about his campaign's future until Wednesday, when he declared he would fight on.