“If voting changed anything, it would be made illegal”

— Emma Goldman

Variants:
"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal."
"If voting changed anything it would be illegal."
"If voting made a difference it would be illegal."
"If voting made any difference they wouldn't let us do it." - also incorrectly attributed to American humorist Mark Twain or American peace activist Philip Berrigan..
Although often attributed to Goldman, there is no evidence that she made this statement. The earliest known example of this quote is from a 1976 newspaper opinion piece: "If voting could change anything, it would be made illegal".
Disputed
Source: Snopes.com - Election Dissection http://www.snopes.com/mark-twain-voting-quote/
Source: Borden, Robert S., "Voting is Dishonest and Fraudulent" https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5211342/if_voting_could_change_anything_it/, The Sun (Lowell, Massachusetts), 1976-09-24, p. 7

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

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Emma Goldman 109

anarchist known for her political activism, writing, and sp… 1868–1940

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