This is a bizzare take. They were tricked, but also not tricked at the same time?

A meme is not a crime.

“It’s just a joke bro” the ultimate criminal defence.

The prosecution established the defendant’s intent to reduce the turnout of black voters “ For example, on November 1, 2016, in or around the same time that Mackey was sending tweets suggesting the importance of limiting “black turnout,””

That’s mens rea.

Something being a meme does not make it a crime, but a crime being a meme does not make it legal.

Seriously what’s going on with multiple people in this thread? crystal clear attempt to trick people into not voting

“Doesn’t count because no one fell for it” (as if that excuses it anyways…)

“Well actually 4900 people fell for it”

“ALL 4900 OF THOSE WERE JUST PEOPLE JOKING AND I KNOW THIS BECAUSE I PULLED IT OUT OF MY BUTT”

> What is with people in this thread

I hate Democrats with all of my soul. They destroyed my city of San Francisco after all. But I would never prosecute someone who I disagree with. People say dishonest things every single day in politics. Do they deserve to go to jail for a decade because of it?

I don't actually know if intent is sufficient in this case. So maybe if nobody actually fell for it (or they did, but the government didn't bother to submit any evidence of this) then that would excuse it in law. 4900 people might have texted the number, but maybe half of them didn't have a vote, and the other half figured it out later and ultimately did vote. Maybe not, but if you have a sworn statement from someone that they didn't vote because of this, then there's no ambiguity about whether the harm actually occurred.